


A Path to Redemption

by TheRechercheRambler



Series: A Chance Meeting [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Gen, if anyone spots anything in need of tagging by all means tell me, the Undertale folks might cameo here and there, this is told from the Underfell folks' POVs and not Frisk's for the most part, well the Underfell versions anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRechercheRambler/pseuds/TheRechercheRambler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the weirdness of the crossover apparently over with, the skelebros in Underfell had hoped... that is to say, they had anticipated... er, they had secretly dreaded that things would return to routine as usual. But of course, for better or for worse, the arrival of a small human befriending their way through the Underground got in the way of that.</p><p>As the sequel to A Novel Experience, I would personally recommend reading that first, because a lot of details the Underfell skelebros' character and relationship are established and explored there. This isn't an Underfell-ized Undertale novelization, as it focuses more on the redemption of the Underfell cast than on Frisk's journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“H u m a n.   D o n ' t   y o u   k n o w   h o w   t o   a d d r e s s   a  s u p e r i o r ?   T u r n   a r o u n d   a n d   f a c e   m e.”

A ring of tall bones erupted from the earth, surrounding the small human and that dumb houseplant they always insisted on dragging along with them. Sans took a step forward, so that they could see him through the bars of their cage. He grinned widely, baring his sharpened teeth.

“heh. the old instant-cage trick. gets 'em every time. i'm sans. sans the skeleton. and yeesh, are you two ever dull.” he said.

Which was entirely true- as far as he knew, the human never failed to fall for that trick. Unlike his counterpart, who apparently remembered past timelines the way one might remember a past day, Sans was aware of every event that had taken place, but had only a few vague memories of the previous timeline. He didn't know what lead up to them, or what motivated people to make the choices they did, but he knew _of_ them. Before the most recent reset, the human had run away from every fight they could- but when they were unable to flee, their opponent always died.

The stupid flower practically wilted as it shrank against the human, who had taken a step back and was holding their hands close to them fearfully. If they were showing that much emotion, then it was probably safe to assume that they weren't going to use monsterkind as knife sharpeners this time. Hopefully they wouldn't try to befriend everyone, either. Those timelines were the rarest of all, and the ones Sans understood the least.

“W-what can we do?” the flower asked its companion pitifully, petals drooping.

“well, you're not entirely out of options.” Sans said, with a malevolent smirk. It was always nice, getting to see someone else be terrified for a change, but now that everything was set in motion he was filled with anxiety. “there's cowering, like you're doing now, begging, groveling, heh, what else…”

His orbitals went dark. “for now, though, i suggest you run.”

He let the cage fall away. For a split-second, the human and the houseplant gaped at him, before turning and bolting away down the path. Sans trailed behind them at a slow, easy pace, taking a shortcut to make sure they wouldn't be able to leave his sight. When they looked back briefly to check if he was following, the expression on their face at seeing him so close was absolutely priceless.

Now, they didn't really have anything to fear from Sans. He wasn't going to kill them. After all, he'd made a promise to the woman behind the door. They'd been talking, one day, and she'd been more quiet than usual. Then, out of the blue, she all but ordered him to not kill any human that came from the Ruins.

“If a human goes through this door… promise me something. Do not kill them. Let them go. Give them a head start, at least. But, do not kill them outright… will you not?”

Her voice had been light and conversational enough, but there had been something darker underneath, the commanding tone with the threat of fierce anger found in people who were accustomed to being obeyed. That wasn't something Sans was able to simply ignore. So, reluctantly, he'd promised.

Sans wasn't going to kill the human.

Papyrus was going to do it instead.

 

It wasn't long before the human got to Sans's sentry station, the skeleton tailing them all the way. The station was well-kept- Papyrus was a stickler for appearances- with a smart coat of black paint and not a thing out of place (that any observer could see- not even his brother had found his stash of mustard yet).He could see Papyrus on patrol far off in the distance, probably inspecting Sans's traps; all things considered, what with having to deal with that blasted crossover yesterday, Sans thought he did pretty well. Somehow, he doubted Papyrus thought the same; just when Sans thought he might have met his standards, he always raised the bar even higher. The taller skeleton was heading in their direction; he hadn't seen them yet, but at this rate soon would.

Sans took a shortcut, and so strode out from the trees onto the path in front of the running human, whose arms did a windmill impression as they forced themselves to stop. Their face as they fretfully stared at him was the face of someone who felt afraid, and powerless. The short skeleton clenched his teeth in an angry rictus grin.

“what are you so worried about? i'm not the one you should be frightened of. if i wanted to kill you, you'd be dead where you stand.” Sans's grin widened, and he was quiet for a moment finely-tuned to most effectively allow the implied threats to sink in.

“Frisk! W-we've gotta d-do s-something!” the flower said, as it trembled and tried to hide behind the human whose arm it was wrapped around.

“now, my brother, papyrus…” Sans turned, so he could cast a slow and obvious glance over his shoulder.

Threatening was a fine art, in a way; a combination of the right words, the right pitch of anger or nonchalance in one's tone, the ability to let words hang over your enemy's head for just the right amount of time. And as Sans had only one hit point, and deplorable magic, he'd only survived by scaring his enemies without letting them know that they scared him. With years of experience in intimidation under his belt, Sans was a master in his craft.

But for this one moment, something didn't quite work out with his execution. Probably 'cuz the stupid human didn't know how things worked in the Underground. Sans heard the flower whisper something to the human, and his head snapped around, but already the little dunce had managed to rush out of sight.

Dread and anxiety decided that was a good moment to start hanging out where the pit of Sans's stomach would be, if he had one. He knew this was going to happen; from what he knew, the human successfully hid from him in every timeline without fail. But just this once- seeing as the crossover had been something totally new- he'd hoped that maybe he'd get it right for once.

And now Papyrus had arrived.

“SANS!!!” he bellowed, storming toward him.

Reluctantly, Sans turned, and hesitantly met his brother's eyes. Well on his way to achieving his goal of becoming one of the Underground's worst monsters, Papyrus practically radiated rage at all times. If he ever felt anything else, he kept it under lock and key.

“YOUR TRAPS ARE STILL SUB-STANDARD, AND YET NOT ONLY ARE YOU NOT WORKING ON THEM, YOU'RE NOT EVEN WATCHING OUT FOR HUMANS! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!” the taller skeleton demanded. His right orbital was twitching.

“hey, i am watching for humans!” Sans said, with as much indignance as he could muster. He gulped. If he told Papyrus that he'd just had the human here, Papyrus would be furious that he'd let them out of his sight; if he said that he thought there was a human and was searching for it, Papyrus would be furious anyway, for having missed its arrival.

“in fact, i'm pretty sure th-that there's a human around here now!” he continued, hoping Papyrus hadn't noticed the stutter, or his jitteriness. Technically speaking, skeletons always have dry mouths, but his felt particular dry and his words particularly thick at that moment.

Dead silence.

For a moment, Papyrus's orbitals looked a hair wider, the closest his expression had come to something other than angry for several years. Excitement, perhaps? Or just a new level of rage?

“A HUMAN?! AND YOU HAVEN'T CONTAINED IT? HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN IT?!” the taller skeleton clenched his fists and stomped in the snow. “GAH! SANS!!! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR GROSS INCOMPETENCE! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I _WILL_ KILL THIS HUMAN!”

Papyrus was on a monologuing roll now. He'd given variations of this speech many, many times over the years, so Sans strained to listen for any sound the human might make to give away their location. Nothing.

“THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL CLAIM THE POWER WHICH IS RIGHTFULLY MINE! I WILL BE RESPECTED… FEARED… I WILL JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD AND ASCEND TO ITS HIGHEST RANK! EVERYONE WILL HURRY TO CARRY OUT MY COMMANDS. THEY WILL QUAKE AT THE MERE MENTION OF MY NAME!”

“i think they're close by- probably wouldn't take long to find them if we l-”

Papyrus fixed Sans with a glare that said “SHUT UP THIS INSTANT”, and so Sans did.

“IF THEY'RE CLOSE, WHY HAVEN'T YOU CAUGHT THEM? THIS IS ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC, YOU LAZYBONES!! AT LEAST PRETEND TO PUT AN IOTA OF EFFORT INTO THIS! AND DON'T TRY TO USE THE CROSSOVER AS AN EXCUSE!!!” he raged.

“bully.” Sans muttered angrily, fidgeting.

“LAZY RECREANT.”

“goon.”

“COWARDLY BLATHERSKITE.”

Huh. That was a new one. Yep, somewhere in there, excitement was crammed in next to Papyrus's anger.

His brother shook his head with an overblown mixture of frustration and irritation. “GAH… WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME… HAVE TO PUT UP WITH PEOPLE AS MEDIOCRE AS YOU…”

Sans darted a quick glance behind him. Just as intended, Papyrus followed his gaze, and then cast him an intense and interrogative glare. He possessed a wide repertoire of glares, each conveying different shades of angry meaning. Most monsters did, these days.

“listen, ya lout. there IS a human here. i think it's close enough to hear us.” Sans said in a frantic whisper. “i can flush it out of wherever it's hiding. get your attacks prepared and wait down the path, somewhere it won't be able to run. i can lead it you to. i PROMISE.”

Papyrus's sockets narrowed, as if he was only going to agree with reservations and the utmost reluctance. “YOU'D BETTER.” he growled. “DON'T SHOW WEAKNESS.”

In the Underground, that basically translated to “please don't die”. Although it was harshly said, Sans appreciated it.

“I WILL ATTEND TO MY TRAPS.” his brother announced loudly, as if the brief exchange hadn't happened. “AS FOR YOU…”

Sans swallowed hard. He knew most of _this_ anger was feigned, a ruse so that the human wouldn't overhear or suspect what they were planning, but it still set his bones rattling.

“PUT A LITTLE BACKBONE INTO YOUR WORK FOR ONCE, YOU IDLER!!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHEH!” Papyrus finished, before turning heel and hurrying away with bold strides.

Definitely excited. Sans shuddered and inwardly sighed with relief, then trudged back toward his station. Dealing with his brother could be exhausting.

Sans dragged his feet beyond his hut of a station, back down the path to the Ruins, and once he was out of sight of the clearing he took a shortcut into the trees. Then, he settled himself and kept a watch out. This was the sort of work he liked best; it didn't take much effort, just a bit of patience and concentration. That human couldn't stay hidden forever.

Finally, after a few minutes passed, he saw a few ragged petals push out of the snow, followed by the whole flower, which quickly looked from side to side before drooping with relief.

“We're clear, Frisk!” it said. The kid popped up, snow falling off of them. They were clutching their arms and shuddering horribly.

With the fearful vigilance of a hunted animal, the duo began to creep away from the station. Once they were back on the path, Sans quickly took a shortcut and stood right behind them.

“'bout time. you better get going. he might come back. and if he does… don't want to have to face his blue attack, do ya?” Sans snickered.

The kid was so startled they almost jumped out of their dumb sweater. They turned and looked at him warily.

Then, finally, they spoke.

“Th-thank y-you.” they said in a quiet, shivery voice.

Sans was struck dumb. “what.” was the most he could muster. “What?” asked the flower.

“F-for n-not t-telling him w-where we w-were.” they explained. The short skeleton gave them the most incredulous look he had; their shoulder plant did the same.

Had the human come from the other world? They seemed to be the same stripe of soft as his brother's counterpart. Just what he needed, something that made him think of the crossover and its own slew of unpleasant reminders. Sans had been trying to spare himself a tongue-lashing, not to protect them. He most definitely did not care what happened to a naive human kid. They couldn't both see out the day.

A wall of bones was thrown up between him and the human, prompting them to jump back and the houseplant to curl up again. The fearful gleam in their eyes was back in its proper place. Good. He had to make them go away.

“get going! what's the holdup?! look, brat, there's nothin' to be afraid of.” he said with fiercely feigned reassurance. “it's just a dark cavern, filled with skeletons that are horrible monsters.”

“Frisk, please…” the flower begged.

The kid took off running again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like the chapter notes I'd written got deleted somehow?  
> Anyway, due to a combination of an upcoming semester of college and another fanfic I'm working on simultaneously with this one, A Path to Redemption will usually be updating every four days, rather than every three days.  
> Writing this fic presents the interesting challenge of finding a balance between keeping Underfell's plot somewhat close to Undertale, so it doesn't stray to far from its source, but also mixing things up a bit so it's not JUST Undertale with a different aesthetic and a few small adjustments to its script. AUs that just switch names or import large swathes of script/plot without doing much to make them truly creative or alternate have always been a pet peeve of mine.  
> In case anyone's wondering, "cowardly blatherskite" is/was an actual insult, albeit an archaic one (so, perfect for Felpyrus); I heard about it from a Mark Twain piece.  
> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus attempts to fight the human to the death.

A human, at last! This more than made up for the awfulness of the previous day. The air felt electric with anticipation; if- when- he pulled this off, he would have everything he ever wanted. Finally, Undyne would realize that he was just what she was looking for in a Royal Guardsman, and accept him into their ranks. He'd be the best of the best, and everyone would know it. As he thought this over, Papyrus realized he hadn't felt this genuinely… _excited_ in a long time. Eventually, he would also overthrow Undyne and take her place, but that wasn't exciting; it was just something that had to happen, the Underground being what it was.

He didn't understand why he hadn't been made a Guardsman already. For some reason, Undyne had decided to single him out and make his requirements for joining even harder than they were for everyone else. It wasn't fair (unless it was some kind of secret test to see if he would give up or screw up under ludicrous circumstances- that didn't seem like Undyne's style, however). None of those blasted canines had been made to take a human's soul before _they_ could join. What did a pack of pathetic lapdogs have that he, the Great Papyrus, did not?

Papyrus waited with growing impatience for a few minutes. He should have told Sans to be more quick about his work. In fact, Papyrus was just about ready to march back in high dudgeon and tear the place apart until the human was found (briefly pausing only to bite Sans's head off again, metaphorically speaking), when the wretched thing finally came down the path in a hurry.

When they saw that the looming skeleton was waiting for them, they clumsily came to a halt. They turned around to see if they could go back the way they came, but Sans was dispassionately heading down the trail behind them. Privately, Papyrus was pleased to see that Sans had gotten the job done right, and considered what he could criticize him about later. His brother had been lazy and sluggish for as long as Papyrus could remember; if he showed approval without any reproach, Papyrus knew he would have a miserable time making Sans do anything useful ever again. And if someone stopped striving to be strongest in the Underground, their life was forfeit.

“HUMAN.” Papyrus growled, taking a step out and dramatically pointing at them. “PREPARE FOR YOUR END.”

He didn't waste more of his words on them, as they fumbled with a short stick and held it out in front of them like it was some kind of weapon. They glowed a gleaming red, and then a bright, shining heart shape drifted from them, and hung as if suspended in front of the human.

Their soul.

Papyrus immediately went on the offensive, sending a wave of bones at them. The small human twisted and jumped to avoid the bullets, and their soul continued to float before them. It moved as they did, for the most part, although Papyrus noticed that whenever they jumped, it continued to move upwards until the human fell again, keeping it beyond his bullets' range. Strangely, although their limbs were hit by several bones, they only showed pain when the red heart was grazed.

“I don't want to fight…” the human said pleadingly. Were they trying to spare him? He hoped that this battle wouldn't turn into a copy of his disastrous duel with his counterpart during the crossover.

“PAPYRUS, COMMANDER OF THE GUARD… I WILL STRIKE TERROR INTO THE HEARTS OF EVERY MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND!”

With a shout, the tall skeleton hurled more of his magic at them, white bullets interspersed with pale blue. Something squealed with fright, and it didn't sound like the human- wait, there, coiled about their shoulder! Papyrus thought that he recognized that weed. What was its name again? Flowery?

Didn't matter.

“W-was that your blue attack?” the human asked. In spite of the pathetic quavering in their voice, they almost sounded… impressed.

“AS IF.” Papyrus scoffed.

Their shining, bold red heart instantly changed to a brilliant blue. It no longer floated effortlessly, but seemed to sag, as if it were a heavy weight hanging about the human's neck.

“ _THAT'S_ MY ATTACK!!”

He stomped his foot, and his magic yanked their soul to the ground, dragging the human along with it. _This_ sniveling wretch was a human? It didn't seem fearsome or dangerous in the slightest. How had even an army of these managed to imprison the race of monsters? It defied common sense. The human was a lot smaller than he'd expected, too. It was barely even Sans's height. Where had Sans gone, anyway?

More bones assailed the human; they barely managed to crawl out of the way, and staggered to their feet. They were determined, Papyrus was willing to give them that, as they jumped to keep their soul out of the way of more bullets.

“Please- you don't have to do this!” the diminutive human said plaintively. Something about the sadness in their eyes, the way they huddled back fearfully, reminded him of…

“WITH YOUR SOUL, I WILL ACHIEVE ALL OF MY AMBITIONS!” Papyrus roared. “POWER AND PRESTIGE BEYOND ANYTHING YOUR PATHETIC MIND CAN CONCEIVE!!”

Why was he bothering with an explanation? He didn't have to justify himself to them! The skeleton snarled and took another step toward them, causing them to flinch. Papyrus raised a fist, and the human whimpered as they were flung into the air by his magic. A flurry of bones rained down upon them.

“I WILL HAVE UNDYNE'S RESPECT. THE KING HIMSELF WILL BE IMPRESSED WITH MY RUTHLESSNESS!” Sans… would be Sans.

Was he even talking to the human anymore? Papyrus realized with a jolt that he wasn't sure. It was almost as if he was trying to justify this to himself. Something bitter cold seeped deep into his marrow. What was wrong with him?!

Though they were held helpless in midair, the human still tried to speak: “I-I think you're doing p-pretty good.”

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING OF HOW THIS WORLD WORKS?” Papyrus demanded, allowing his fury to mask his confusion. A storm of bones swirled around them. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. THE WORST MONSTER YOU COULD EVER MEET! AND I _WILL_ KILL YOU!”

“You don't have to be.” the human implored.

“WHAT…?”

“You d-don't have t-to be evil. Anyone c-can be good.”

Papyrus's magic slowed and shuddered to a halt, sockets wider than Sans's. No. There was no other way; there had never been any other way, not for him. He _had_ to be like this. Anything else- anything else was sure suicide! He _had_ to be evil! H-he had to be the worst of the worst, because- because there was no other way he could be his best. He could never be good, no matter how much he wa-

_WRONG_ , he thought. _THE HUMAN IS WRONG._ _DON'T LISTEN TO THEM._ _WRONG, WRONG, WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONGWRONGWRONG_

“SH-SHUT UP!!” he screamed, unsteadily stumbling back a step. He glanced down, so he wouldn't have to see their stupid, beseeching face. “ _YOU'RE WRONG! I- THAT WON'T- I CAN'T…_ ”

Papyrus looked up, eyes full of wrath. “I AM SAVAGE. BRUTAL. VILE. I AM A MONSTER, YOU-”

He couldn't think of what to say.

“Anyone c-can be good, if they try.” the human pleaded. “There's always a way to-”

The skeleton used his magic to drag them back to earth, cutting off whatever they had meant to say. This wasn't right. Nothing here was right. The human was supposed to fight back, and he was supposed to kill them and take their soul, and everything could go back to normal or better. And yet in spite of being more afraid than his counterpart had been, they wanted to- to what? Spare him? _Help_ him?!

What kind of bizarre, twisted world could ever allow him to change like that? Once again, rage burned within him, and this time, Papyrus knew what he was angry at- everything. Absolutely everything in his world.

With an enraged scream he sent a final burst of his magic at the human, then turned and stormed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Underfell Royal Guard, if you kill an officer, you can take their position. UF!Undyne (hereon called UFdyne) is pretty good at rebuffing attempts on her life, but she knows that Felpyrus is very powerful, and is doing everything she can to keep him out of the Royal Guard.
> 
> Also, the idea of Felpyrus storming off when he first fights Frisk was inspired by an Underfell comic that I saw before I even started A Novel Experience (I believe I found it because another blog that was compiling a timeline for Underfell events linked to it), which can be found here: http://d4gm4rs.tumblr.com/post/131533358109/so-underfell-is-cool-and-i-made-this-thing-and
> 
> A sizeable amount of people seem to hate Underfell because they see it as undermining/removing what made Undertale so great (once upon a time, I agreed with them- yet here I am now...). Personally, I've found that with certain interpretations of the AU, their themes actually complement each other very nicely. Both Undertale and Underfell (Pacifist and Redemption routes, anyway) present the ideas that violence is not/should not be the answer, and that no one is entirely evil (except for demons, I suppose). It's just that Undertale focuses more on the former, and Underfell on the latter.
> 
> Chapter 3 (which is a particularly long one) will be up on Thursday.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The skelebros do what they can to salvage their situation in the aftermath of the aborted battle.

What had just happened?

Of all the things that shouldn't have happened, that was in a league of its own. Forget the human not fighting back- he, Papyrus, had just fled from a battle! Overwhelmed by- by… by everything, and not knowing how to handle or cope with it, he'd left. He'd never run from a fight before- he had the scars to prove it. But now?

He was a coward. A pathetic, weakness-ridden craven who'd shown fear to an enemy and run away. Papyrus was still running- where to, he didn't even know.

What had he _done_? What was wrong with him?!

That battle was supposed to have allowed him to fulfill all of his desires. Instead, it had likely just snatched away everything he already had. All of his hard work, gone to waste because of a feeble human's platitudes? If anyone found out- well. The entire Underground would see him as an easy target and descend upon him in an instant, Undyne and the Royal Guard at the fore. He was doomed- and what would become of Sans?!

There had to be a way out of this. Papyrus wracked his mind for ideas. Well- he could always wait for the human somewhere else, the farther off the better; he knew he had to confront them again, but realized that he wanted to do it later rather than sooner. At least he'd set up a lot of traps- they were bound to be caught by one of them. Of course, there was a chance that another monster might get to them first; Papyrus almost rushed back to fight the human again then and there, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

At least Sans hadn't seen his humiliating disgrace. Only the human had, and they had no reason to tell anyone. No one elsewould know.

 

Sans got back from his mustard break just in time to catch the very end of the fight from the cover of the conifers. His orbitals widened in shock. The condiments dropped from his shaking hands.

What had just happened?

He'd known this was a possibility, but like dozens of other events from previous timelines, he hadn't been able to make sense of it. His brother- his brother had just run away from a fight. Even now, seeing it happen, he still didn't understand it. What could possess Papyrus to do such a thing? Whatever happened to “don't show weakness”?

Fortunately, he knew that being ripped to pieces by the rest of the Royal Guard for failure was not something that had taken place in previous timelines. But- the crossover. That had been new, horrifyingly so. Was anything still _really_ certain? Nothing truly new had happened so far, _but_.

The short skeleton knew he had to do something to salvage the situation. Now that the human had arrived, everything hinged on Papyrus being able to kill them and take their soul. There were no other viable options, not that Sans could think of. He had to make sure the other members of the Royal Guard didn't kill the human on sight.

But, first things first.

Sans teleported out onto the path in front of the human. “what did you DO to him?” he demanded.

“N-nothing!” they stammered. “I j-just talked to him. Honest!”

Sans ground his teeth, glaring at them. He briefly considered just dragging them along on a shortcut to Papyrus, but he didn't know where his brother had gone, and he'd never had a reason to teleport with another person in tow before. After everything he'd had to put up with yesterday, he didn't want to invite more space-time weirdness. He was going to have to do this the hard way.

“S t a y.   P u t.” Sans snarled, before taking out his phone and calling his brother. “br- papyrus. where are you?” he asked when Papyrus picked up.

His brother didn't say anything.

“papyrus!” Sans pressed, never taking his eyes off of the human, who fidgeted nervously under the constant glare. “gah! fine. the human is here-”

Papyrus attempted to say something that was strangled by his distress. The short skeleton felt a coldness creep over him, and struggled to keep his composure; his brother was faring very badly but Sans could not allow his concern to show. Especially not in front of the human.

“wherever you are, stay there. i'll bring the human to you.” he said quietly.

“HOW?” Papyrus asked bitterly. “THE GUARDS-”

“-haven't seen a human before. how did you figure out it was a human?” Sans asked.

“IT LOOKED NEW??? AND IT CAME FROM THE RUINS? AND Y- WELL. I DEDUCED IT. BUT THE GUARDS-”

“-are dogs. they don't exactly have the greatest eye sight. they won't know what it is.” the short skeleton continued. “i can probably persuade them it's just a monster from out of town.”

For a moment, there was silence on the other end. “hello?” Sans asked in an annoyed tone; he wanted to demand if Papyrus was all right, but- the human.

“ALRIGHT.” Papyrus said at last. Sans raised a brow ridge. Alright? That was it? No reluctance? No criticisms? No looking for an excuse to agree? Just flat-out agreeing? The short skeleton was tempted to ask for clarification- did Papyrus actually trust him on this one? Had he heard that right?- but decided not to press his luck. He hung up before his brother could find a reason to protest.

“now.” Sans said. “what are we going to do with you…?”

 

The brat actually made a pretty convincing plant monster- to anyone who hadn't seen a human before, anyway. It wouldn't fool, say, Undyne, but the twigs and leaves (and their houseplant) would be enough to get them through Snowdin Forest. They'd been hesitant, at first, but a few threats, coupled with the most fearsome descriptions of the Canine Division Sans could come up with, had given them incentive enough.

If they ran into any monsters, they were going to shut up and let Sans explain that they were some stupid lost punk, menial sentry stuff, no need for _the_ Royal Guards to get involved- they had more important things to take care of, after all (humans for instance).

“Thank you.” they said with a timid smile.

Sans glared at them. “just so ya know, i'm only doing this so my brother can kill you later. now let's get going.”

Their face fell, although they looked more sad than scared; their flower looked absolutely aghast.

Still, things started out pretty smooth. The brat walked ahead, so Sans could keep an eye on them. They ran into a couple of monsters, who sent some bullets the brat's way to keep them at bay,and show that they meant business. Fortunately, the human was able to dodge, soul hidden behind the houseplant, and since their flower was able to send bullets back no one made a serious effort to batter them. In spite of Sans's best efforts to hurry them along, the brat still tried to exchange a few words with them all, or otherwise be friendly.

Well, except for Jerry. Even they had the sense do ditch Jerry.

For the most part this just baffled the other monsters, who figured this out-of-towner must not only be touched in the head, but really powerful to boot if they were able to get away with such weird behavior. To his boundless surprise, Sans got the impression that one or two of them actually _didn't mind_ the pleasantry. Had the Underground's common sense decided to go out for lunch?

When they got to Doggo's station and the dumb pooch caught sight of them, he immediately began barkingfuriously at Sans to get lost (he'd hated Sans for as long as either of them could remember- even before everything changed, they hadn't gotten along well). The feeling was mutual, and Sans was more than willing to hurl some abuse at him and leave, but as usual, the brat screwed things up. As Sans made to leave, Doggo watching him the whole time, they slowly approached the station- and started to _pet_ Doggo, of all things!

“what.” Sans said quietly, words struggling to form coherently in the midst of his confusion. Doggo was yipping maniacally, but didn't seem all that angry about it, just utterly dumbfounded. “what are you doing? stop that!”

The flower was just as bewildered as he was, and the brat reluctantly walked away, smiling.

They were _painfully_ naive if they thought they could actually befriend everyone. It was a minor miracle that they hadn't been killed yet. Well, if they stayed down in the Underground for much longer, that would be snatched from them. You couldn't stay naive or upbeat or cheerful down there. Sooner or later, the world would crush it out of you. He'd seen it happen.

The short skeleton felt anxiety bubble up within him. It suddenly struck him how… odd it was, to put it mildly, that he was doing so much to keep the brat alive just so the “right” person could kill them. Sans was a coward, he freely admitted that; he wouldn't last long in a straight-up battle, so he avoided confrontation when he could and tried to intimidate his way out when he couldn't. On the rare occasion he was forced to really fight, in order to keep his life- or Papyrus's, as had once frequently been the case- he cheated like there was no tomorrow. But he hadn't carefully planned someone's death in cold blood before.

“This hasn't been so bad.” the brat chattered to no one in particular, their voice cutting through Sans's thoughts. They were trying to sound cheerful, but the nervous energy in their voice gave them away. For all their naivety, they were definitely more frightened than Sans was.

“hmph.” was all Sans said. He clenched his fists- he was _not_ shaking. That was not happening, not here.

They reached one of Papyrus's traps a few moments later; a field full of pitfalls and spikes. Sans always took a shortcut to pass it, andhis brother was tall enough to just walk over them, but there was a thin, winding path that lead through the middle of the field- some of the pitfalls were shallower than they looked. Papyrus had been forced to add it so that the rest of the Royal Guard could get across. The brat approached it nervously.

“there's a way through. get going.” Sans snapped. Thanks to his anxiety, his mood was swiftly worsening.

“It's like a puzzle!” the human announced. “D-did Papyrus make this?”

“yep. now be quick about it.”

Once the brat had gotten halfway across the field, Sans moved to the other side and waited. They got through most of it pretty quickly. At the end of it they had a little trouble getting past a pitfall, wildly windmilling their arms as they stood at its brink. Sans rolled his eyes and yanked them across.

Then, they hugged him.

“W h a t.   A r e.   Y o u.   D o i n g ?!”

Even their flower was nonplussed.

“brat. stop. we are NOT friends.” Sans growled. They kept at it. He clenched his fists and pried them off with jerky movements. What were they playing at? If it weren't for the fact that he and Papyrus' futures were riding on taking the human's soul, he would've ditched them like they were an army of Jerries.

Their strange behavior continued unabated as they dodged more traps and got close to the part of the forest monitored by the Dogi. When the human saw them approaching from afar, and when they noticed that they were also dogs, they instantly dropped down and started rolling around in the snow. The flower wasn't too pleased with this, and all it seemed to do was lend more credence to Sans's hypothesis that perhaps all humans were simply insane.

But when Dogamy and Dogaressa sniffed at the human and somehow came to the conclusion that they were a puppy, and not only let the brat by without incident but growled at Sans to make sure he saw them safely to Snowdin Village (dogs were a particularly protective type of monster), he wondered if his idea needed revision. The brat was smarter than they looked- so they had to be playing at something with their hug-or-be-hugged act.

Lesser Dog was passed just as easily, although Sans had to pull the brat away when they got a bit… carried away while petting it. He could understand if they were doing it to prolong the last few minutes of their life- a flash of cold fire seemed to flare up within him at the thought- but Papyrus loathed delays. Better to get it over with. When they reached Greater Dog Sans was reduced to chucking a bottle of mustard at them to make them leave before things went too far.

“Hey, Flowey,” the human said quietly as they walked. “these guards work pretty _doggedly_ , huh?”

Their houseplant, which was scanning the area fearfully for oncoming monsters, giggled nervously. “Y-yeah, they sure do…”

Sans snorted in disgust, more out of instinct than out of genuine dislike. He was on edge, far more anxious than usual, and not sure why; maybe it was hearing the pun, or maybe it because he was itching to get going, or maybe because of what he was doing. Probably a bit of everything.

The flower lowered its voice, to the point it probably assumed Sans couldn't hear it. Or maybe it didn't care. “Frisk, you don't have to do this. Trying to cheer me up. To h-help me.”

Sans was beginning to feel ill. The human and their stupid weed were- they- he didn't care about them, he told himself. He _was_ going to take them to Papyrus, and then…

“I said I'd g-get you out.” the human whispered; Sans had to strain to catch what they said, although he told himself not to bother. “I will. B-besides, I'm trying to cheer myself up, too.”

Crap. Sans supposed he could understand that they wanted to get a friend out of harm's way. It was pathetic to care, he reminded himself, but he understood nonetheless. He'd spent most of his life trying to make sure Papyrus was okay, when he wasn't looking out for number one. Heck, yesterday he'd crossed over to another world to get him back.

Now he was feeling really sick, as he watched the kid ahead of him walking off to their doom. His body had tensed up, and he couldn't force himself to relax. He was starting to sweat, and he knew it was only a matter of moments before he started shaking. It felt like someone had ignited an angry fire below his ribcage.

Maybe, he could…

He heard the familiar sound of boots crunching down snow. They'd reached his brother.

The kid gulped loudly, and their pace slowed while Sans's did not. They backed up into him, but he didn't push them away. What was he doing? This wasn't right. Nothing here was right. He raised a trembling hand, about to put it on the kid's shoulder, when Papyrus came into view.

His brother strode toward them, teeth gritted, fists clenched, eyes fixed on the human. He stopped not fifteen feet from them, and gave Sans a nod, looking past the human at him with scarred sockets.

After a childhood of keeping Papyrus in one piece, his brother had returned the favor as they'd grown; he'd gotten most of those scars beating off monsters who were after Sans.

Sans froze, hand halfway to the human. He tried to grin, to look triumphant, but that wasn't happening. Before anything else could happen, the short skeleton teleported away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for how late in the day this update was!  
> This chapter is a doozy. Thus far, I'm it's the longest chapter in the entire series. Feedback is always appreciated.  
> Nailing Underfell!Frisk's character was a tad difficult; how can one portray a character who goes around trying to become besties with an army of villains trying to murder them every chance they get, without making them qualify for a Darwin Award? I don't want to go too into detail about them now, as they'll get their time for that in Chapter 5, but I do hope they don't come across here as Too Dumb To Live.  
> Credit to selamat-mencari.tumblr.com for the concept of Felpyrus's getting some of his scars defending Felsans.
> 
> Chapter 4 ought to be here on Monday.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Papyrus tries to carry out the human's execution, Sans is plagued by second thoughts.

What was wrong with Sans? He'd never simply disappeared in plain sight like that before. Well. Papyrus would have to question him later- after this battle. Now, he was going to finish the job.

The evil skeleton didn't bother saying anything to the shivering human. He turned them blue from the start, and shot a series of bones at them that changed in size as they went. The human clearly struggled to avoid these, sustaining several direct hits as the bullets crushed against their soul, to Papyrus's grim satisfaction. With any luck, this execution would be over swiftly.

“Y-your p-puzzles were really clever.” they said hurriedly, when they got the chance. The words were difficult to hear clearly, due to the speed at which they were being said, and because the human's teeth were chattering.

Papyrus's eyes flashed with anger, and he seethed for a moment- not again! Why were they talking at him again?! Why couldn't they just shut up and let him get it over with? They were just drawing out their death by doing this- before their words registered in his mind.

Clever? Really? The skeleton's sockets widened slightly. He couldn't recall the last time he'd heard something like that.  
“YOU RE‒ HMPH!!!” Papyrus cut himself off. There was no allowance for distractions, not in battle. He couldn't allow himself to be so affected by their meaningless words. It was surely nothing but deception.

With a sweep of his arm, bullets surged at the small human from either side of them. They waited, crouching, and when the bones got near them they jumped with all their might, landing when there was a gap and then jumping again, clearing many of the bones. Papyrus let out a cry of frustration, raising his clenched fists.

“Honest!” the human said, before taking a deep breath. They had a hand held to their side, and stood hunched over. “I think you're pretty smart…”

They stumbled clumsily back in an attempt to avoid more bullets, gritting their teeth. “a-and r-really strong… so…”

Papyrus thought he heard their flower mumbling something that sounded like, “What are you doing?” He was wondering the same thing himself. Were they hoping that flattery would persuade him to spare them? As if. He had far too much riding on this succeeding to let them go for something as paltry as that.

“D-do you w-want to b-be f-friends?” the human asked in a small voice, looking up at him pitifully.

“SHUT UP!!!!” the villainous skeleton shouted, preparing to hurl more bullets at his opponent. His opponent, who refused to fight back, wanted to… be his _friend_ …?, even though he'd made his intentions very, very clear.

“WH…” His voice faltered, the word “WHY” dying out as he watched the human throw themself out of the way of an attack. They were clearly getting tired out.

“WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO NOT NEED… _FRIENDS_!!!” he spat, putting as much venom into the last word as he could.

The human took a trembling breath as they looked at him, as if they were trying to steel their nerves. “Do you w-want them, though?” they asked.

Papyrus raised his hand to prepare another bout of magic, causing the human to flinch and take another step back. He felt a pang of- of what? Guilt?! No, he had no need to feel guilty! He was doing the only thing he could! He had no other choice!

The skeleton knew that the human didn't mean what they said. Who in their right mind would want to be friends with _him_ , of all people? At best, monsters barely tolerated each other in the Underground- even Sans, Papyrus suspected, only stuck around for want of anywhere better to go. The human was obviously lying.

He brought down his fist, and loosed his magic upon the human.

 

Sans stumbled back against the wall of his room, and sank to the floor, breathing quick and shallow.

What had he done? The poor kid was doomed. They might have been dead already, and it would be just as much his fault as it was Papyrus's. Leaving them to die was horrendously wrong, by far the worst thing Sans had ever done. He had to do something- but what?

If he interrupted the fight, teleported the kid away, perhaps, what then? He'd be stuck looking after the human for as long as it took the Royal Guard to find them, and then they'd both be executed on the spot. And what would happen to Papyrus?!

Everything Papyrus cared about depended on killing a human, and Sans didn't think he'd be able to talk Papyrus into waiting for another one to fall. Papyrus was the only family he had, and he'd saved Sans's life on more than one occasion. What sort of brother would he be if he betrayed Papyrus like that?

He felt torn apart by anxiety, between loyalty and conscience. If Sans helped the human, he would be turning his back on Papyrus, and that wasn't happening. But if he sat back and let the human die, Sans knew he'd never sleep again. Just his luck, that the two things he could not allow were also mutually exclusive.

A crashing noise from downstairs told him that someone had broken into the house- doubtlessly that dumb white dog again. Just about as annoying as Jerry and twice as malicious, its favorite pastime was tormenting everyone, but Papyrus in particular, with its mischief. It always struck when the two skeletons weren't looking, or when they were out of the house- like they seemed to be right now.

Suddenly, an idea developed in Sans's mind. He'd hit upon a way out.

The short skeleton took a shortcut down to the kitchen, where the infuriating animal was ransacking a drawer of bones. Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster, and his vision turned red.

“T h i s   v e r m i n   p r o b l em ' s   o u t   o f   h a n d .   T h i n k   i t ' s   t i m e   t o   e x t e r m i n a t e .”

The small white dog froze, its fluffy, disheveled fur standing on end in a most ludicrous manner, making it look like a surprised cloud as it slowly turned around. It stared at Sans, curiosity gleaming in its beady little eyes. To his chagrin, Sans noticed that it didn't seem afraid of him, just startled. He pressed on regardless.

“but, if you do me a small favor, i'll let you live… this time.” he said. “there's a fight goin' on in snowdin forest, just outside of town. go interrupt it.”

No one, probably not even Undyne, would blame Papyrus if his efforts to kill the human were thwarted, or at least disrupted, by _The_ Aggravating Dog. Everyone in Snowdin, at least, knew its antics first-hand, and besides- it couldn't talk, so he couldn't get ratted out. The dog cocked its head at Sans.

“G e t   g o i n g!” Sans ordered, firing the Blaster at it, doing all of one point of damage.

The pooch yelped and rushed out of the house (although it left residue all over the place).

 

“STOP LYING TO ME!!!” Papyrus roared, as the human threw themself out of the way of the barrage of bones. They were breathing harder now, and still shivering noticeably.

“I'm n-not-” the human drew in a deep breath. “-lying! I pr… I promise!”

Papyrus found that he actually wanted to believe them, but his instincts were commanding him to ignore everything they'd said. He had to end this quickly; time to use his special attack.

The skeleton held an arm out to one side, and a single bone-shaped bullet manifested in his hand. It began to slowly grow in length, and he raised up the baton in his hand to throw it. When the baton left his grasp it flew in an arc toward the human, spinning as it did so. Just as it reached the small human, Papyrus closed his eyes, and he heard the sound of a dog barking.

His sockets flew open in shock. A small white dog was lying between the two opponents, tail happily beating the snow, Papyrus's special attack being gnawed in its mouth. The human pointed at it, and then they started giggling, hesitantly joined by the flower still holding onto their shoulder.

“WHAT?!” he demanded wrathfully. “LET GO OF THAT!”

The irksome dog ceased its chewing, and slowly looked up to meet Papyrus's glare. Faux fear exaggeratedly crept onto its face. Then, it shot Papyrus a dog's approximation of a cheeky grin, before literally turning tail and bounding away into the forest, still clutching the baton. The human started laughing even harder, wrapping their arms around themself.

Papyrus stomped his boot in the snow angrily, fists clenched tightly at his sides. The human stifled their laughter and gave him a small, apologetic smile. Why were they doing that?, Papyrus wondered. Had they not given up on befriending him, after… everything?

He had one last idea to get the fight over with as fast as possible. If he could impale their soul with bones at a very close range, it would kill them in an instant, and they wouldn't have an opportunity to dodge. Papyrus closed his eyes for a moment and sucked in a breath, then began striding toward the human.

Their smile faltered, and their eyes began to water.

“I m-meant w-what I s-said, last t-time.” they said. “Anyone can b-be g-good, if they try.”

How could that be true? That couldn't be true, especially not for him. Papyrus proudly admitted to being an evil villain, planned to kill Undyne to take her place- and he'd just spent the better part of a morning trying to murder a defenseless person to steal their soul.

“I _CAN'T_ …” he said. “I…”

But the human- for whatever reason, they weren't giving up on him. That had to amount to something. And yesterday- his counterpart had seemed like a good person, from what little Papyrus remembered of those. He'd been friendly and very eager to dole out mercy, at any rate. Maybe… maybe he did have the choice.

“…ALL RIGHT.” Papyrus ducked his head, and knelt down in the snow in front of the human, who smiled faintly. “SO… WHAT N-”

Considering all of the unexpected things the human had done that day, Papyrus supposed hugging him wasn't that weird. It surprised him nonetheless. He sort of put his arms around the human in return.

They didn't say anything, and didn't move much, either, although they were still shivering involuntarily.

“Frisk…?” the flower said. The human didn't respond.

“HUMAN?” Papyrus said. “WHAT'S GOING ON?? OH NO…”

The skeleton felt a flash of fear. Had he actually done it? Had he killed the small human? He didn't want this!

But their soul wasn't visible anymore; once Papyrus had spared them, it had receded, and the red glow had faded away. From what little Papyrus knew about humans, he had expected that their soul would stick around after they died. How else could monsters take it, after all? So he probably hadn't killed his new friend. Hopefully.

“p-papyrus, wait-!”

Papyrus stiffened, and held the human closer. Sans had just come back, and as far as Papyrus knew, still wanted the human dead. He sounded very, very frightened.

“d-don't k-kill them!” his brother begged in a choked-up voice.

Slowly, cautiously, Papyrus stood up and turned to face Sans, still carrying the human. Confusion flashed briefly across Sans's face, and he took a fearful step backwards. Then, he took a deep breath, and looked Papyrus squarely in the eye.

He was about to speak, but Papyrus said, “SO, THEY… THEY BEFRIENDED YOU, TOO?”

Sans's expression immediately changed into one of stunned amazement, before the short skeleton went weak with relief and fell back into the snow.

“SANS, I- THEY'RE NOT DOING WELL.” Papyrus said, voice cracking on the last few words.

“frick.” Sans said. “um. what do we do!?”

“Get them inside!” the flower piped up, looking back and forth between the two brothers with an exasperated look on his face. “They're exhausted! And probably frozen half to death!”

“WE LIVE ACROSS TOWN… HOW WILL WE GET THEM BACK WITHOUT BEING SEEN…? SANS?” Papyrus said as he looked to his brother, who startled. “YOU'VE GOT A SHORTCUT- YOU CAN TAKE THEM!”

“w-what? uh, i-i…” Sans stammered. He glanced at the human and gulped. “yeah.”

Papyrus set the human down, and Sans took their hand. “see ya.” the short skeleton said, before vanishing along with the human and flower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The toughest parts of this chapter were writing Felpyrus's Heel Face Turn in a way that seemed plausible, and making sure the fight didn't seem redundant in light of Chapter 2. Having Felpyrus storm off in the middle of his battle with Frisk and returning to finish the job later was a part of my outline for his character arc all the way back when I started A Novel Experience. I actually had to rewrite part of Chapter 5 of A Novel Experience to accomodate that- I'd entertained the idea of having Felpyrus storm off while fighting Papyrus, and then when they met again Papyrus would persuade him to not fight, but I scrapped that because it didn't make sense for Felpyrus to go through the same development twice.
> 
> Writing the Aggravating Dog was fun. He's not too different from canon because Annoying Dog is sort of Toby's avatar in the story, so I tried to keep him similar, and make it seem like he knows more about the situation than Sans might expect, which is why he's not afraid of Sans.
> 
> I'm going to post Chapter 5 on Friday, most likely.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated as the skelebros try to sort things out now that they're protecting a human, or skeleton villains make terrible babysitters.

After a few nerve-wracking minutes of walking through Snowdin, feeling confident that no one could or would know about his treachery but mildly anxious nonetheless, Papyrus reached his home. When he strode inside, the human and their flower were nowhere in sight, but Sans was sitting back in one of the three gray chairs, staring wide-eyed at nothing in particular, hands clenched in his lap. What _now_?, Papyrus wondered.

“SANS! WHERE IS THE HUMAN?” he demanded.

His brother jumped out of the chair and stood to attention.

The short skeleton gulped loudly before replying, “u-up in your r-room.”

Papyrus tilted his head back and looked down at his brother. “WHY DID YOU PUT THEM THERE?” he asked.

Sans shuffled his feet, stuffing his hands even deeper into his pockets. “w-well, you, uh, know how my room gets…” he said lightly. “d-didn't think my bed would really w-work for them. um.”

The lanky skeleton pinched the bridge of his nasal cavity, sockets shut. He exhaled sharply with frustration. “SANS.” he growled. “DIDN'T I TELL YOU _AGES_ AGO TO TIDY UP YOUR ROOM?!”

His brother glanced down at the floor, avoiding Papyrus's gaze. The taller skeleton let out a frustrated huff. He'd never managed to break Sans of that habit. You had to be assertive and strong to survive in the Underground, not timid.

“yeah. i did.” Sans muttered angrily.

“THEN WHY IS THERE A PROBLEM?!” Papyrus demanded, clenching his fists.

“there's, uh, a f-few springs l-loose… didn't think the human would be c-comfortable, y'know…” The shorter skeleton fidgeted, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He tugged at his collar guiltily.

Papyrus gritted his teeth, and was about to launch into another lecture about the importance of discipline and always working to the utmost of one's ability, before deciding that it could be dealt with later. He sighed. “FINE. WE HAVE MORE PRESSING PROBLEMS.” he growled. For instance, what they were going to do now. The Royal Guard… was out of the question, now that he'd spared a human instead of killing them, and was sheltering them to boot. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? WITH- EVERYTHING?”

He sucked in a quick breath. “ARE WE… GOOD NOW?” he asked in a rush, as the realization hit him. For almost his whole life, he'd striven to be evil, but now that he'd actually befriended the human he supposed that was going to change. “WHAT DO GOOD PEOPLE EVEN DO, BESIDES… I DON'T KNOW… NOT KILL?”

Sans angrily mumbled something under his breath, slouching forwards in his chair, head in his hands. It sounded even more insubordinate than his usual grumbling. No one Papyrus knew ever tolerated insubordination from someone weaker than them, whether they were in the Royal Guard or merely acquaintances, so Papyrus refused to tolerate it. If Sans kept up a habit like that, he was bound to let it slip out in front of someone important.

“WHAT WAS THAT, SANS?!” he said irritably.

The shorter skeleton's head snapped up. His orbitals widened slightly, teeth gritted tightly in a rictus grin. He gulped. “n-n-nothing, s-sir.” Sans stammered.

Papyrus exhaled sharply, arms crossed, eyes narrowed in a glare even angrier than usual. “REALLY.” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Sans clearly didn't want Papyrus to know what he'd said, so the taller skeleton refused to let it go. He was going to find out, regardless of how much wrangling it took; that would probably be enough for the lesson to sink in.

A minute passed in total silence. Papyrus glowered at Sans unabated, and began loudly grinding his teeth in irritation as the seconds ticked by. Sans hunched his shoulders, and he seemed to shudder- unusual for him. Perhaps he was just shaken up by the day's events, and that was why he'd let himself slip. Understandable, Papyrus would admit, but that was no excuse for such an error.

Finally, Sans opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again with a shallow exhale, casting his stare to the floor. Papyrus, for his part, looked up at the ceiling and growled in irritation- really? Twice, in one conversation? His brother had no self-control.

“WELL? OUT WITH IT, ALREADY.” the taller skeleton said hotly.

His brother's response was so cluttered with stammering and stuttering that Papyrus couldn't make it out. “WHAT?!?!” he snapped fiercely.

Sans took a deep breath, eyes shut. “c-can't say i'm an expert,” he said cooly, and gulped. “b-but i don't th-think good people   b r o w b e a t   a n d   t e r r o r i z e   t h e i r   o w n   f a m i l y ! ! !” he spat out with more forcefulness than Papyrus had thought him capable of. His left socket flickered red.

The taller skeleton was taken aback; his sockets widened. “…SANS?”

“that's all you EVER do!” Sans said in a rush, pointing accusatorially at Papyrus. “for years, you've done nothing but berate me, and bully me, and work me h-harder, and harder! no m-matter h-how much i try, or w-what i do, it's NEVER enough for you! i've been running myself ragged for years, and for what? NOTHING!”

The taller skeleton took a step back in the face of Sans's vehemence. He'd never seen Sans like this loud or intense, even when confronting an enemy; general thuggish threats, mixed with a veneer of nonchalance to make people think he was stronger than he really was, was his usual style. Never this. “I…”

“you've never g-given me so much as one scrap of… of encouragement, or s-support, or anything! all i ever get is scorn and disapproval! i can never catch a break with you! just when i think i've finally done enough, you start demanding even more!” his brother ranted.

Papyrus's shoulders slumped. He never let Sans have the satisfaction of having done anything right, did he? The skeleton had thought it would drive Sans to improve, but… that was what he was always bemoaned of Undyne's treatment of him.

“it really tires a person out, always getting their shoulder shoved against the wheel. some days, i wonder, why bother? what's the point, if all you're ever gonna do is wear me down?” Sans closed his eyes briefly. His voice was strained. “makes it hard to even try, some days.”

“SANS… I… I JUST WANTED YOU TO BECOME STRONGER!” Papyrus protested. “BRAVER. SO YOU CAN SURVIVE!”

“D o n ' t   m a k e   m e   l a u g h.” Sans said scornfully. “braver? all it… all it's done…” his voice cut off.

The taller skeleton meshed and unmeshed his fingers before him. “YES?” he asked reluctantly, after a moment.

“it's made me even more of a coward! it's made me terrified of YOU, Papyrus!!!” Sans shouted. After a moment, his orbitals widened in horror at what he'd blurted out. He gulped, and almost seemed to shrink before Papyrus's eyes, withdrawing into himself.

Silence hung over the room.

“YOU'RE… YOU'RE _THAT_ AFRAID OF ME…?” Papyrus said, stunned. He hurried forward, perhaps to hug Sans- those were nice, right? Good people hugged, if the human was any indication- and he noticed that Sans flinched as he did so. The taller skeleton froze, appalled by the implications.

He'd just wanted to help, make sure nothing went badly for them. Sure, he'd wanted to be evil, but, well, that was just the done thing. Their world had broken everyone, in one way or another, but Papyrus had never once thought that he'd played a part in breaking his own brother.

The lanky skeleton didn't know what to say. Hesitantly, he took a few steps towards Sans, then knelt down and pulled his brother into a hug.

For a moment, neither skeleton said anything.

“UM. IS THIS WEIRD…?” Papyrus asked, when the awkward silence started to wear on him.

“uh? it's… unexpected.” Sans said, voice muffled by Papyrus's cape. “i s'pose it's weird.”

“BAD WEIRD?” the taller skeleton checked, still hugging.

“…nah.”

“OKAY.”

Silence fell again. “NOW WHAT?” Papyrus said. He was fairly inexperienced at this. How long were hugs supposed to last?

“check on the human?” Sans offered tentatively.

Papyrus opened his mouth to speak, meaning to add something to Sans's idea, but thought better of it. “…SURE.” was all he said.

 

That had gone both much worse and much better than Sans could have expected. The rant had just sort of… happened. He had never meant for any of that to actually be said out loud- to Papyrus himself, no less!But he was still in one piece, and his brother seemed to take his complaints seriously.If this was how things were going to be now, Sans figured he could get used to being good, after a while.

Papyrus's room was as neat as anyone could imagine; he was obsessed not so much with cleanliness, as with keeping up appearances. Nothing was out of place, from the tidy desk, to the assortment of weapons Papyrus had collected and set up on display. On the wall hung a red banner depicting a fierce skull over a pair of crossed swords. Only the plain bed seemed out of sorts, its once neatly-made sheets tossed over the small human. The small yellow flower was poking out of the covers, looking down at them with some worry.

“HOW ARE THEY DOING?” Papyrus asked, with a concerned frown. That was a new look on him.

“I think they're just sleeping…” the flower said fretfully. “I tried to use healing magic on them, but… I've barely used it before…”

“DOES HEALING MAGIC WORK ON HUMANS?” Papyrus pondered aloud.

“About the same as it does for us, yeah.” the flower replied, without a trace of uncertainty. Sans wondered privately how it knew so much about humans. “Don't think I can do much more for them… probably'd be best to let them rest for now.”

He quickly glanced at the door. The skeletons begrudgingly took the hint.

 

To their relief, little more than an hour had passed before they heard the door to Papyrus's room slowly swing open, and the small human came drowsily down the stairs. The brothers had been sitting in the main room of the house in mildly awkward silence.

“heh, we were wondering when you'd wake up.” Sans said, as the human walked over and took the middle chair. They smiled.

“THANK GOODNESS YOU DID.” Papyrus added. Then he raised a brow ridge, looking upwards. “DO YOU NEED SOMETHING TO EAT? CAN HUMANS INGEST MONSTER FOOD?”

Flowey had hardly begun to nod before Papyrus had hurriedly gotten up and made a bee line for the kitchen.

“wow. i think he's actually trying to be… nice.” Sans remarked. “you're really shaking things up around here, brat.”

Sure, they were more or less friends now, but friends gave each other annoying nicknames, right? Right. Well, the human hadn't looked offended by it, just ducked their head and smiled, so Sans figured he was in the clear.

Sans's smile tightened as he watched them. He tugged at his collar nervously, then cleared his throat (unnecessary for a skeleton, technically speaking, but it was a good way of getting attention).

“hey, about that…” he said slowly. The human looked up. “everyone down here would jump at a chance to kill you if they knew you were human. bunch of them would try even if they didn't know. just… y'know you can't friendship your way out of every fight, r-right? if you keep going, you're gonna have to fight back eventually.”

He hoped they'd be willing to listen. By some fluke their hug-or-be-hugged routine had worked so far, but the way they stuck to it no matter what made Sans wonder if they had a death wish. Really, it was a miracle they hadn't been butchered six ways to Sunday.

The human looked down at their feet.

“I know.” they said in a small voice, drawing up their knees to their chest. “But I don't know what else to do. I'm not very strong, and I don't know how to fight at all. And, even if I could, I don't wanna hurt anyone.”

Their eyes scrunched up, and they wrapped their arms around themself. “I want to get out of here. But I d-don't think I can make it all the way. I w-was hoping that m-maybe, if I was nice, people wouldn't wanna kill me… and at least I'd make someone happy…” they said.

“well… you helped us.” Sans said. “if- wait a minute.”

An expression of amazement came over his face. The human gave him a perplexed look.

“did you only reach out to us to save your own skin?” he asked with a bemused grin.

Instantly, the human's eyes widened in horror. “N-no! That wasn't the _only_ reason- uh-” Their expression only grew more distressed when they realized what they'd said. “You seemed like you were only acting mean- and kinda sad- and you did care about each other- and-”

Sans felt a bit of anxiety flare up in his chest as they babbled. “h-hey, i was just kidding. don't worry about it, seriously! i can relate. but if you need us, out there, uh, we'll try to help out. and i've been thinking… seems like, if you can't leave, down here you've already got food-”

“SANS! ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME LOOK FOR SUITABLE FOOD OR NOT?!” Papyrus shouted from the kitchen.

Sans tensed, and his sockets went dark.

“ER, THAT IS…”

“bonehead.” Sans called back.

“WAS THAT A PUN???” Papyrus asked with a mixture of incredulity and desperation. “I THOUGHT YOU STOPPED LIKING PUNS!”

Sans decided to just let Papyrus dwell on that.

“anyway. you've already got food, drink, friends… it's not much, but hey. if you can't keep going the way you are now, you could probably have a great time down here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that mostly wraps up the skelebros' redemption arcs, although this fic isn't finished yet. This was one of the first scenes I planned to include in their development arc. I think Felpyrus is a great character, but just befriending a human and going "OH SO I'M PROBABLY GOOD NOW" does not a true redemption make, hence the need for Felsans to confront him with the horrible things he's done and make him start to really change for the better.  
> For the longest time I was really conflicted over whether or not I wanted Felsans to be the first befriended, because that made the most sense for his character, or be the last befriended and give Frisk a Bad Time (or having himself a Great Time) in a Redemption route. I like the idea that the Undertale and Underfell routes mirror each other in some ways (so No Mercy has a few similarities with Redemption while Survival has similarities with Pacifist), but ultimately I think that having Felsans and Felpyrus both befriending Frisk early works out best. Hence this "great time" conversation.  
> Now that the skelebros are mostly good, the perspective's going to switch to Undyne for the next chapter, which will be coming on Tuesday.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Undyne learns that a human's trespassing on her turf, she heads out to hunt them down- it's their life, or hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She travels 'cross the Kingdom, the Spearlady of Sin  
> She's read the application that you just sent in  
> It needs evaluation, so let the games begin  
> A brutal deed, a show of force  
> (The last soul would be nice of course)...
> 
> The Royal Guard's cruel captain is watching, so beware;  
> This grade that you receive will be the last, we swear!  
> Failure is not an option, displease her if you dare-  
> It won't end well, but she'll be fine  
> It's sink or swim!  
> Signed, Undyne
> 
> She saw the operation that you pulled off today  
> It lacked a... certain something, so she still votes "nay"!  
> And now the seventh soul is just the only way.  
> There will be dust. ("It won't be mine!")  
> Go kill a human!  
> Signed, Undyne

The following morning Undyne went down to Snowdin. She did this once a week at least, to make sure her Guard dogs were keeping up the bad work- and that Papyrus was fed a steady supply of fool's errands. He fit every requirement for Guardsmanship perfectly, so perfectly in fact that he could never be allowed to pass the sentry stage. Papyrus was far too powerful and indefatigable for anyone's good. If that blasted skeleton was ever allowed in, the fish monster knew that she'd never have a quiet moment until one of them was dust.

Fortunately, the Canine Division was much less ambitious; they alone of all the Royal Guards had yet to challenge Undyne for her position. Although she knew it was weak to trust others- trust after all being a form of reliance- Undyne appreciated that she never had to worry about an assassination from the dogs, or Alphys. As for everyone else… the fish monster was always looking over her shoulder, wondering when- not if- the next attempt on her life would come. It was exhausting, constantly acting fierce enough to intimidate her underlings into leaving her alone.

She hurried out into the forest as soon as she arrived, to finish her routine inspections of the dogs' stations. There wasn't much to see or learn there, except that some dumb punk had gotten lost, so she moved on toward the Ruins- and, unfortunately, one of the shorter skeleton's stations. He was probably nowhere near as strong as his brother- she wasCaptain of the Royal Guard, she could recognize a poser when she saw one- but, as a precaution, Undyne worried about him anyway.

Sans was standing at his station, hands in his pockets, making a good show of doing his job by looking down the road to the Ruins until the clanking of Undyne's armor alerted him to her approach. As with the dogs, he reported that there'd been nothing unusual lately, and no sign of any humans. She found his report suspicious- and not just because she considered everything the skeletons did suspicious, on principle. It was something about his attitude. He was hiding something, she was certain, and wanted to be prepared for when it came out into the open.

After completing her rounds, she returned to Snowdin Town shortly after noon, to complete the most arduous of her required tasks- putting that punk Papyrus in his place.

She found him at the outskirts of town, discussing something with his brother in a low voice (how had Sans gotten there ahead of her?! There was something horribly wrong with those skeletons). Papyrus hardly seemed to acknowledge her arrival as she strode towards them, but as soon as she came within earshot the topic of the conversation evidently switched, as he raised his voice and flew off the handle about something or other.

“PAPYRUS!” Undyne bellowed when she was closer, smashing the end of her spear against the ground.

“YES, CAPTAIN?!” Papyrus growled, turning away from his brother. Had Undyne not known him better, she would have said that he cast Sans an apologetic look. She ignored it- she didn't want to worry about the skeletons's eccentricities unless they seemed related to a possible assassination.

“MAKE YOUR REPORT, YA BONEHEAD!”

Sans let out a quick exhale- was that a laugh?

“NO SIGN OF ANY HUMANS, CAPTAIN.” Papyrus said, far more curtly than usual.

“i coulda told you that.” Sans muttered from behind his brother. He cocked his head thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers at the fish monster. “oh, wait, i already did…”

Undyne hissed angrily. “Is that so?! A fine excuse for failure.” she snarled at the taller skeleton. She was well aware of how pathetically nonsensical her pretense was. Papyrus had pointed this out to her many times, citing all sorts of regulations and reasons for why he should already be a Guard- until she'd pointed out that if he had a problem with how she ran things, he could take it up with Asgore. “You'd better hope that when one does come you're up to the task of killing it, because if you're not, you will NEVER become a Guard!”

She ranted on, mixing threats with stuff made up on the spot so she could hurry the conversation along. When she was done Undyne braced herself for Papyrus's lengthy retort, but-

“YES. CAPTAIN.” the taller skeleton spat out- but that was all.

Definitely up to something, Undyne surmised. Well, she wasn't going to wait around to find out what it was. They'd be hard pressed to ambush her at that point, so she shouted off an angry Parthian shot and booked it back to Waterfall.

 

Unbeknownst to Undyne at the time, the human had left Snowdin in a hurry after her meeting with Sans in the forest. But, now that the fish monster was back on her home turf (and the child's monster disguise had fallen apart), it was only a matter of time before she heard the rumors and snatches whispered by the echo flowers. There was a human in the Underground, and somehow it hadn't been killed yet, meaning Undyne had to finish the job and get the seventh soul for Asgore.

Her first reaction to learning about the human, as she listened to a past conversation about it, was gleeful relief- Papyrus wouldn't be able to get into the Royal Guard after all! She wouldn't have to wait in dread until he tried to kill her! Then she realized that she would have to hunt down the human and take its soul herself, and her euphoria faded.

When she found the human- because there was no way Asgore would let it slide if the Captain of the Guard failed to catch and kill it- Undyne knew she was in for a very tough fight. Everyone had heard the stories of the War, of how a fierce enough human could take down almost an entire battalion single-handedly. Although she'd been training for this moment her entire career, she felt only foreboding, not excitement.

After years of fighting for her life, and acting vicious and cutthroat at all times to terrify her enemies into leaving her alone, Undyne had lost her appetite for battle. It had stopped being enjoyable ages ago; now she mostly found it exhausting. Sure, she'd always be up for a casual brawl or friendly fist fight if such things had existed in the Underground, but as it stood she was stuck with duels to the death, and those just weren't all that fun.

But there was no way out of this fight, so the fish monster squared her shoulders and began following the human's trail of echoes.

 

Hours passed, and after a long, hard chase, Undyne finally managed to block the human's path just before they could escape to Hotland. That blasted Sans hadn't been at his station, and somehow, the human had avoided her spears, survived their plummet into the trash heap, and even tricked some punk kid into bungling Undyne's pursuit- she'd have to deal with the traitor later.

But now, she was going to make good on her threats to them. She would tear their soul from their body with her bare hands if she had to.

“HUMAN!” she shouted from atop the crag, raising her voice above the roaring wind. “EAT SPEAR, YA PUNK!”

With that, Undyne leapt into midair, hoping to impale the human upon her spear when she landed. Their flowery ally shot a few small bullets toward her, and as Undyne crashed to the ground she was forced to move her spear to deflect them. Her small opponent rushed to get away, but when Undyne got to her feet they were still within her magic's reach, and with a swipe of her spear their scarlet soul took on a sickly green sheen. It anchored them to the spot, tugging them back as they tried to flee.

“YOU WON'T GET AWAY THAT EASILY!” Undyne roared, thrusting her spear and sending a cluster of bullets rushing out to skewer the human.

Then, the human did something she hadn't expected. They reached out and grasped at the glowing spears; as one rushed straight toward them they managed to get ahold of it and slow it down, wincing in pain as its tip pushed against their soul.

Dumbfounded, Undyne summoned up spear-shaped bullets to attack them from all sides. The human, holding their spear in both hands, spun around where they stood, and whenever their own spear connected with Undyne's bullets, it blocked her attack from reaching their soul.

“W-wait! I don't want to fight!” they said.

Undyne raised an eyebrow, and readied another attack. “Pfft!” she scoffed, ignoring the small part of her that wanted to daydream about the possibility. “EVERYONE who's powerful wants to pick a fight with ME- and humans are as tough as they come! NGGAAAAHHHHH!”

“No!” the human shouted. “Really, I don't!”

What did they expect her to do, lay down her weapon and go home? The fish monster didn't reply; she was sick of acting brash all the time. She was going to fight them until one of them turned to dust, and that was that, no need for flair or drama. If the human wasn't intimidated by what they'd seen already then no amount of blether was going to change that.

As I am sure you expected, my good reader, Undyne's green magic didn't last forever, and in short order the human's soul was glowing red again, and they sprinted away toward Hotland at the first chance they got, stolen spear clutched in their hand. Undyne dashed after them. She lashed out with her spear once they seemed in reach, but at a warning shout from their flower they twisted aside to avoid it and kept on running.

The temperature rose as the chase went on, and Undyne could feel the it steadily sapping her strength. Nonetheless she pushed herself forward, and the human did the same. She had to end this before the cruel heat became too much for her to bear. With a cry, she forced her pace to quicken and raced to catch her target.

A dark haze born of fatigue drifted across her vision; now was her last chance. She leapt at the human, reaching out to grab them, and-

The tips of her fingers brushed their shoulder but found no purchase. Undyne fell forward, and crashed against the hard ground, exhausted. She closed her eyes. This was the end; after years of fending off attacks and delaying the inevitable, death had finally decided to come.

“Look, Frisk! Water!” someone said in a distant, half-heard voice. “Wait- what are you doing?!”

Undyne felt water trickling over her neck; perhaps delirium was settling in? But as the cool water cleared her thoughts, she realized that the human was pouring it over her. Had they been genuine after all?, she wondered. If they wanted her dead, they would have killed her while she was vulnerable, not revived her.

Unsteadily, Undyne managed to rise back to her feet. She had the perfect chance to strike, now that they were standing patiently before her, but she couldn't bring herself to kill the first person in ages who not only didn't want to kill her, but actually wanted to help her. It was a big relief, finding that there actually _were_ people like that.

“Who _are_ you?!” she asked the human.

“A friend.” they replied. “I hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to the writers of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog for making the original Bad Horse song (parodied above), and to my friend GoodGollyGee of Tumblr for the "always up for a casual fistfight" bit.  
> In this chapter, writing paranoid Undyne was pretty fun. Also, while writing the Underfell skelebros- who I've grown pretty attached to, as you can imagine- from another character's point of view, realizing that they're pretty terrifying to people in their own universe somehow came as a bit of a shock. To us (or at least to me) they're a pair of edgy dorks, but they creep Undyne out pretty awfully.  
> Next chapter will be the Phone Call Compilation Chapter! The first chapter so far to be more or less from Frisk's POV (if only to serve as a framing device for a bunch of phone conversations). It'll be here on Saturday, and I hope you'll all like it!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undyne leads Frisk back to her home, and as a result, a few more unlikely friendships are formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHONE CALL CHAPTER

After that, Undyne lead the human back through Waterfall to her house, so that they could rest a bit before figuring out what to do next. To her horror, as they approached the house, she saw that Papyrus and his creepy brother were poking around nearby- were they making their move at last?!

She promptly flipped her lid, materializing a spear in her hand and readying it for skewering.

“NGAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” she demanded.

Sans practically jumped a foot in the air, and when Papyrus saw the human with Undyne, his sockets narrows and he began running toward them. Undyne prepared to hurl her spear like a harpoon.

“HUMAN! RUN!” Papyrus shouted. “SHE'LL- WAIT. WHAT???”

The tall skeleton stopped short and looked from the frightened fish monster to the small human, who was grinning shyly.

“YOU DIDN'T.” Papyrus said, brow ridges furrowed in consternation. The human's smile widened, and they nodded happily. “YOU _DID_.”

He smacked his hand against his forehead. “GOOD GRIEF.”

Undyne's eye widened. She, too, turned to look at the human, pointing at the skeletons and making a few garbled attempts at speech.

“You're FRIENDS with THEM?!” she finally asked, shocked. “I don't believe this…”

“they fit right in down here.” Sans commented. “they aggressively befriended us.”

“Does this mean… I have to be friends with _them_ now?” Undyne asked in a slightly nauseated voice, glancing from skeleton to skeleton. “Dude, they've been plotting to kill me for years…”

“WHO TOLD YOU _THAT_?!” Papyrus demanded sharply. “HOW'D THEY FIND OUT?”

The human gave him a Serious Look, and he backed off, clearing his throat. “BUT, UM, THAT WAS BEFORE… WASN'T LOOKING FORWARD TO IT ANYWAYS…”

“Just… don't keep at it.” the human said quietly, lightly skipping over the issue of how ALL of the friends they currently had tried to kill them when they'd first met. Flowey wanted to spare them the Underground's horrors. Toriel wanted to keep them from getting through the Ruins, and tried to drive them back when they wouldn't relent. Napstablook- he was an acquaintance, at least- made a half-hearted attempt before deciding to leave them be if they didn't tell. They were used to it by now, although they knew that probably wasn't a good thing.

“WELL, OF COURSE NOT! WE'RE GOOD NOW. ISH.” Papyrus said, gesturing dramatically. “BUT WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!”

In the end, it was settled that Undyne would stay with the skeleton brothers. With all three of them taking a shot at this “good” thing, and technically traitors at that, it was probably best for them to stick together. Safety in numbers, after all. Frisk went back with them to the skeletons' house, and set off again the next day.

Not long into their journey, they got a phone call…

 

“HUMAN!” Papyrus said. “ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? ALL UNDYNE HAS DONE TODAY IS HIDE BY A WINDOW, LOOKING OUT AT THE TOWN, COMING UP WITH WAYS TO COUNTERACT THE TOWNSFOLK'S HYPOTHETICAL CONSPIRACIES TO KILL HER. AND I THOUGHT SANS AND I HAD ISSUES… I CAN'T BELIEVE _SHE'S_ THE MONSTER WE WERE SO AFRAID OF FAILING ALL THESE YEARS!”

 

“HMPH. YOU'RE AT THE GARBAGE DUMP? AND I THOUGHT THE LAZY BAG OF TRASH I LIVED WITH WAS BAD ENOUGH-” Papyrus cut off suddenly; perhaps he'd noticed Sans. “UH, TRASHY. HE LIVES IN THE GARBAGE CAN.”

Frisk could faintly hear Sans calling Papyrus a jerk.

“MISCREANT…” Papyrus said nervously.

“Hey, that's where I met Alphys!” Undyne piped up, grabbing the phone from Papyrus.  
“DR. ALPHYS? THE ROYAL MAD SCIENTIST?”

“Yup!” Undyne said proudly. “Yup! I was looking for more weapons- giant harpoons, wicked swords, aw man, there was a lot of neat stuff- and I ran into her… uh, contemplating the abyss.” She paused briefly.

“Mad scientists, am I right??” She laughed awkwardly. “So I asked her how long she thought it would take for someone to hit the bottom if they were pushed.”

Frisk didn't respond for a moment.

“THAT'S A PERFECTLY NORMAL CONVERSATION STARTER.” Papyrus chimed in.

“I don't think she'd noticed me, 'cuz she looked kinda shocked. But considering I'm the Captain of the Guard, I was impressed that she wasn't more terrified! She came up with a theory right off the bat, then started on where a pushed person might end up. It was really interesting. I kept bumping into her- and she doesn't have any incentive to kill me! That's pretty great.” Undyne finished.

 

That night, they called again. Papyrus still picked up in the first two rings, but he sounded rather harried.

“SANS, TAKE THE CALL, JUST THIS ONCE…” he said in a muffled voice. “HRMPH. PLEASE!”

“um. why am i taking the call? uh… undyne and my brother started bickering over what to have for dinner. they settled on spaghetti, as opposed to one of the other pasta-bilities, so i had to go steal some. then they started squabbling and giving each other death threats over who should cook dinner. it's like they're kindergarteners…”

“IT'S STILL GOING TO BE BETTER THAN WHATEVER YOU GOT FROM _GRILLBY'S_ , YOU SLOTHFUL SCANDALMONGER.” Papyrus shouted in the background.

“oaf.” Sans said to his brother. “so they're both cooking, and now they're fighting over how they should do it… and to be perfectly honest, between the bullets and the abuse they're heaping on the stove, i don't think the house will make it. overall, 's a pretty good night. no one's died. congrats on not being dead yet, by the way.”

 

The next day, Frisk came upon a pair of rather unnerving houses. Naturally, they rang up their friends to see if they knew anything.

Undyne snatched up the phone before Papyrus did.

“So you're near Napstablook's house, huh? Might wanna watch out. They're pretty spooky.” she said.

“'NAPSTABLOOK'?” Papyrus repeated incredulously. “DO THEY NAP, STAB, THEN LOOK?”

“Pfft… Anyway. They're the ghost snail butcher-”

“WHO'D WANNA EAT GHOST SNAILS???” Papyrus interrupted.

“No, they're a ghost who butchers snails!” Undyne said, irritated. “They used to work with their cousin. Gave me the creeps, so I avoided them, in case they wanted to get my position.”

Frisk heard the sound of a table being flipped over.

“WAIT. YOU COULD GET INTO THE ROYAL GUARD… BY KILLING A ROYAL GUARD?!” Papyrus shouted. “NO ONE EVER TOLD ME THAT!!!”

There was silence from the other end for a moment.

“ER, NOT THAT I CARE ABOUT SUCH THINGS ANYMORE…”

“I don't think anyone actually did??? I just figured that if someone managed it Asgore'd let 'em join. Anyway, I haven't seen Napstablook in a while. First their cousin went missing, now them…” Undyne continued.

“SOMEONE PROBABLY KILLED THEM.” Papyrus said casually.

“But you can't kill a ghost! Where'd they go…?”

 

Frisk investigated the neighboring red house next.

“SO IS THAT ALSO AN UN-HAUNTED HOUSE?”

“Huh?” Undyne said, confused.

“A GHOST ONCE DWELLED THERE.” the skeleton explained. “WHAT WAS THE POINT OF BREAKING IN THERE?”

“You broke into Napstablook's cousin's house?!” Undyne yelled. “That's- that's a lot more criminal than I expected from you, punk. You might stand a chance down here after all.”

Papyrus “HMM”'d in agreement; their approval filled Frisk with shame.

 

An abandoned corral caught Frisk's attention next.

“That's the snail abattoir where Napstablook used to work.” Undyne told them. “Actually, their whole family butchered there for a while, but they all passed on…”

“I THOUGHT YOU SAID GHOSTS CAN'T DIE.”

“I DID, YA TWERP!” Undyne shouted. Frisk heard a scraping sound.

“UNDYNE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, NOT THE-” Papyrus yelled; Frisk heard the sound of something crashing and smashing to bits. “-CHAIR.”

“They passed on to different places!” Undyne continued.

“hey, insulting papyrus is my job.”

Frisk heard Papyrus heave an exaggerated sigh. “IT'S THE ONLY ONE YOU PUT ANY EFFORT INTO…”

“numbskull.” Sans muttered.

“MALINGERER.” Then, to Frisk, he asked quietly, “(WAS THAT TOO HARSH???)”

 

“Hey! I think Gerson lives around there.” Undyne said.  
“GERSON???”

“People used to think he was the toughest monster ever.” Undyne remembered. “He fought against humans in the war- and lived! They called him the 'Hammer of… ' something.”

“musta gone at it hammer and tongs.” Sans said, snickering at his own pun.

“SANS!!” Papyrus whined. “WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF HIM, THEN?!”

“Gerson's a bit… eccentric.” Undyne explained. “When things started changing, he, uh, didn't want to change with them. He was a big stickler for that whole 'justice' thing. If it weren't for his war record, people would've targeted him for being weak. You gonna drop in on him?”

 

They called their friends again when they got to the end of Waterfall.

“SO YOU'RE BACK IN HOTLAND?” Papyrus said. “SANS HAS STATIONS THERE.”

“had.”

“HAS.” Papyrus growled. “IF WE DON'T ACT LIKE WE'RE STILL EVIL…”

“Meh, won't make much difference.” Undyne said. “You only worked when someone was watching anyway, am I right?”

Frisk assumed she was speaking to Sans. Papyrus groaned in annoyance.

“And were you sleeping when I was chasing the human?” Undyne asked in a kidding tone. “I was pretty out of it at the time, but…”

“you can't prove a thing.” Sans said quickly.

From there the conversation devolved onto the definition of napping vs. sleeping, with Papyrus capping it off with “SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!” before remembering to hang up.

 

Frisk and Flowey cowered behind the steam from a vent, hoping that would conceal them from that horrible robot long enough for them to find a better place to hide. When nobody came after them, they decided it was safe enough to call up their friends for advice or news.

Papyrus's spoke in hushed tones that had much more to do with awe than with keeping Frisk covert.

“YOU SAW METTATON?!” he said.

Sans sniggered. “get him his autograph.” he added.

“SANS!!!” Papyrus yelled.

“Who IS Mettaton?” Frisk asked.

“HE'S THE BEST WEAPONS DEALER AROUND!!!” Papyrus said, far more animatedly than Frisk had ever heard. “HE GOT AN UPGRADE RECENTLY. HE HAS AN EXTRA PAIR OF ARMS NOW. NOBODY KNOWS WHY.”

They heard Undyne walk into the room.

“Mettaton? Eh… I've found weapons just as cool at the dump. Anyway, watch out for that dude. I always got the feeling he was up to something when I was around him…” she said suspiciously.

Papyrus sighed. “YOU THINK THAT ABOUT EVERYONE.” His tone became more urgent. “WAIT, DON'T-”

Frisk heard the sound of a chair breaking against a wall; silence reigned.

“WE NEEDED THAT!!!” Papyrus roared.

“EVERYONE _IS_ OUT TO GET ME!” Undyne protested before calming down. “But seriously, Mettaton is weird.

“WE'RE NOT OUT TO KILL YOU! ANYMORE.” Papyrus interjected. “WHAT WAS IT THE HUMAN SAID, SANS? 'FRIENDS DON'T KILL FRIENDS'?”

Strangely, Sans sounded nervous when he replied.

“heh… uh, y-yeah! d-don't kill your friends, r-right…”

 

Of course, the misadventures with Mettaton didn't end there, and soon Frisk found themself poking around the fabled MTT Compound itself.

“THE MTT COMPOUND? WHY DID YOU BREAK IN THERE?!” Papyrus asked. “DO YOU NEED A WEAPON? I PROBABLY HAVE ONE LIGHT ENOUGH FOR YOU TO HANDLE. THEY'RE MOSTLY MTT ANYWAY.”

Undyne barked a laugh. “Pfft! Then I don't blame the human for not wanting your weapons. Mine are better.”

Papyrus growled in irritation. “YOUR WEAPONS ARE GARBAGE!”

“you _did_ get them at the trash heap.”

“Human trash is monster treasure, punk!” Undyne shouted.

“UNDYNE-” Papyrus said warningly, and Frisk knew what was about to happen. “ _OH MY GOSH_ -”

It happened.

“NOW WHERE ARE YOU AND SANS GOING TO SIT?!” Papyrus asked her, furious.

“What am I gonna throw?!” Undyne lamented.

“WHAT AM _I_ GOING TO THROW?!” Papyrus snarled.

There was a whooshing sound, followed by Undyne crying out and evidently ducking. Some more chaos followed that Frisk heard very little of, except for the following exchange:

“guess it's time to bring back the sofa.”

“…THE ONE I TOLD YOU TO GET RID OF???”

 

“hey. yeah, it's me. no, actually this wasn't an accidental call. just… wondering how things are, over there.” Sans said calmly, one hand stuffed in the pocket of his blue coat. “you haven't flown off the handle at me yet, so i'm guessing you're flying high at the moment.”

His counterpart actually snickered. That was probably a good sign.

“uh, i suppose. the human's suicidally friendly.” the other skeleton said. “leaving a trail of reformed villains behind them. what about the one in your world?”

“pretty peaceful. probably gonna see the surface soon.” Sans said.

“the surface?” his counterpart repeated. “whaddya mean?”

“the barrier's never been broken over there?” Sans asked in surprise. “we've been freed a handful of times. never lasted…”

His counterpart was silent for a moment. “we've… never seen the surface. ever.”

“oh.” Sans said. Well, this conversation was taking a turn for the awkward.

“but hey.” his counterpart said with a familiar forced joviality. “the crossover was a new one. who's to say what'll happen next? heh. hey… you ever fought the human?”

Sans was taken aback. “yes.” he said in a low voice, gripping his phone tightly.

“ _when_?”

“only when things are as bad as they can get.” Sans said.

“r-right.” his counterpart gulped. “uh, s-see ya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot of fun to write. I've been really looking forward to upload it here!  
> I'd meant for Felsans to call up Sans way back in Chapter 3, but couldn't find a convenient place for it. It works better here anyway, I think.  
> With Chapter 8, on Wednesday, we'll be moving onto Mettaton.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The robot known as Mettaton "recruits" a new weapons-test dummy.

Another miserable day in the MTT Compound was well on its way to being over when the robot known to the Underground as Mettaton got a call from Dr. Alphys, telling them to get to her lab straight away and be ready to fight a human for her. Naturally, as the robot always did when they got a call from Alphys, they deliberated with themselves over what to do about it.

“i dunno… i fought them before… didn't see the point in finishing it… don't see the point now, either…” they said to themself in a soft, dull voice.

When the robot replied, it was in an entirely different voice, louder and more theatrical.

“REALLY? YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT.”

“didn't seem worthwhile…” the first one mumbled.

“WELL.” the other said. He paused a moment. “WELL, WELL, WELL. CAN'T SAY I FEEL LIKE TAKING ON A HUMAN RIGHT NOW, EITHER.”

“it didn't seem that dangerous though…” the first voice said. “and even if they were, i don't think they could hurt us… we're metal now, after all…”

The second voice considered this, and the robot's upper pair of arms moved, one hand laying a finger against their face thoughtfully. The lower pair of arms hung despondently at their sides.

“SAY…” the second voice said. “IF WE DO KILL THE HUMAN, WHAT'S TO STOP US FROM TAKING ITS SOUL OURSELVES?” he asked.

“we'd be strong enough to override alphys's commands…” the first voice intoned.

“Y'KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT SOULS: THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE!” the second one said. “SHALL WE TAKE ALPHYS UP ON IT, THEN?”

“why not…”

Minds made up, Mettaton left their compound and made its way to the laboratory of the mad scientist Alphys. The discussion was, in fact, perfectly useless, as Alphys could remotely control their movements, but they liked finding reasons to agree to her commands anyway, pretend that it was up to them. Made the situation a bit more bearable.

 

The human with a flower on their shoulder entered the laboratory, and the doors locked behind them. They startled, and continued forward with caution.

“Hello, human.” Dr. Alphys said suddenly, startling the human again. She walked up from behind them. “I've been wondering when you'd arrive since you left the Ruins.”

Her tone was calm and affable, and she approached them with a mild smile on her face. She wore a long black lab coat over a red dress, and a pair of spectacles with red spirals on them. The robot had always wondered how she could see out of them.

“You see, I've been watching your journey. Humans have always fascinated me, and getting to watch a live one in action…” Alphys sighed happily. “Your methods were quite… surprising, but remarkable nonetheless.”

The human looked up at her, hope written all over their simple features. They walked a little closer to her, daring to smile.

“Don't worry, I haven't told Asgore a thing. What he doesn't know can't hurt him.” the reptilian continued in a conspiratorial tone. “Besides, if I did tell, he'd never let me keep your soul for study, and then where would I be?”

All of the hope in the human's face was dashed in an instant. Their lower lip quivered as they took a step back, nearing the wall as they did so.

“Oh, I'm not the one you should be concerned about.” the mad scientist said reassuringly. “Now, as for the robot…”

That was Mettaton's cue. With far more flair than necessary, the robot's two pairs of arms worked in tandem to rip apart the wall hiding them, and they rolled out to confront the human.

“WELL, WELL, WELL, WELL WELL WELL WELL!!” the robot said. “WHAT HAVE WE HERE?”

The human's flower flung a few tiny bullets at the robot, which uselessly hit their metal body without really doing anything.

“we… i'm made of metal… you can't hurt me… moron…” the robot's irritated voice said.

“Napstablook…?” the human whispered, tilting their head. “What happened to you?”

“ANYWAY!” the robot shouted over them, drawing and wielding two chainsaws, one for each set of arms. “YOU'RE JUST THE PERSON I NEED TO HELP ME TEST MY NEW ARSENAL…”

 

The human escaped from that particular encounter, and the robot wasn't sorry to see them go. Sure, Alphys had ranted a bit, but that didn't bother them much. Half of the robot really wasn't feeling up to fighting, and the other thought the odds of their actually getting to keep the soul were slim anyway. Thanks to Alphys's recordings, the fights could be a flashy way to drum up more attention, but aside from that he was fine with doing what the first half wanted to do, that being nothing.

So, when they happened to see the human in Hotland again, and Alphys was distracted by something in her laboratory, the robot didn't attack. They spotted the human as the human spotted them, and after an uncomfortable staring contest, did an about-face and wheeled away before Alphys could notice.

Unfortunately, the next time the robot ran into the human, it was because of Alphys's machinations. There was no getting out of it. When the human entered the dark testing facilities the robot was lurking in, the lights turned on, the exits were blocked off with lasers, and the robot rolled in ominously. Seeing as the robot was rectangular, faceless, and could only move about on one wheel, this was a greater accomplishment than it sounds.

“WELL, IF IT ISN'T MY SECOND-FAVORITE TEST DUMMY!” the robot announced. They'd promised cousin Maddie that he'd always be the first-favorite. “HOW KIND OF YOU TO DROP IN! I'VE GOT SOME NEW TOYS WITH ME HERE- AND I'M SURE YOU'RE DYING TO LEARN ALL ABOUT THEM!”

With all four arms, they reached behind their back and grabbed a long, wide-barreled gun. They cocked it dramatically, then aimed it at the human with its upper pair of arms.

“FEAST YOUR EYES ON THE SOUL-DRIVEN GRENADE LAUNCHER! CHANNELS YOUR OWN NATURAL BULLETS AND CONVERTS THEM INTO HIGH-VELOCITY EXPLOSIVE ROUNDS.”

The robot fired, intentionally letting its shots go wide.

“BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! SICK OF TRYING TO KEEP A STEADY AIM WITH _THIS_ RECOIL? WITH OUR NEW MTT MAGIC-TRACKING SCOPE,” The robot's third hand pulled a switch behind the trigger. “YOUR SHOTS ARE GUARANTEED TO HIT YOUR TARGET DEAD-CENTER!”

They fired again, and this time, the bullet swerved in mid-air and flew straight for the human's flower pal. It exploded on impact, but when the smoke cleared, they were still in one piece.

“WANT A MORE DIRECT APPROACH? TRY OUR LATEST ROCKET-PROPELLED HAMMER!” Mettaton tossed the gun away with his lower arms and reached for the massive hammer with the upper pair. “WORKS EQUALLY WELL ON EVERY _BODY_.”

They wrapped all four hands around its handle and sped toward the human. One hand squeezed a lever on the side of the handle, and the head of the hammer began to flash red warning lights and emit smoke. For a few dramatic seconds they chased the human around the room, until they finally cornered them, lifting the hammer high. The human tensed up, expression determined.

“TRULY, THIS HAS BEEN A TEST TO DIE FOR! GIVE IT UP FOR OUR LATEST ASSISTANT, FOLKS!” Mettaton yelled, throwing in a cackle for good measure, before bringing the hammer down.

Several things happened at once- the human flung themselves out of the way as Mettaton struck; the added force of the rocket caused the hammer to smash clean through the wall when it hit; the human's flower helped them to their feet, and the pair made their getaway through the hole in the wall. Alphys's plans were foiled again, but at least Mettaton had gotten in his advertising.

 

When Mettaton had first made his deal with Dr. Alphys, it had seemed like a fair trade. He'd get the perfect body, one resembling the humans he so admired for how they could pull off even the worst deeds with panache and style, and in return, Dr. Alphys got the remote control function. She'd said that it was just so that she could test out its functions when she needed to, or to get him through a battle if he didn't have the hang of his many new weapons. If he really didn't want to put up with it, he'd assumed he could just leave his body for a while.

They'd seemed to be pretty great partners, for a while. Alphys made weapons and upgrades for him, and Mettaton got the attention he craved by advertising them- he even got to put his name on it all!

Then he'd found that even though he hadn't fused with his new body, he was trapped inside of it. Alphys had explained it as a simple glitch, and quite persuasively, at that. He hadn't thought much of it. You gained some, you lost some, and things were still better for him than most monsters.

But she'd never fixed the problem; she started upgrading him more frequently, and she stopped asking him to do things for her, instead commanding, and it wasn't long before Mettaton realized that he wasn't Alphys's partner, he was her puppet.

Napstablook was the final nail in the coffin of misery. Mettaton had trouble adjusting to all of Alphys's upgrades, and she didn't want to micromanage everything herself, so the mad scientist decided to make things easier for both of them by finding a third person to handle the extras for them.

Now that he'd lost his freedom and gotten his poor cousin dragged into it, even his celebrity didn't have the appeal it used to. He wasn't using his own material, and he never knew when Alphys would take over and even his performance wouldn't be his own.

He'd asked her, once, what the point was; as far as he could see she wasn't gaining much by doing this to them.

“Oh, Mettaton,” she'd said. “gain is entirely beside the point. We play the parts we chose. You have your precious 'showbiz', I have my supervillainy.”

So when Alphys decided to speed up their battle with the human by forcing them to switch to their more offensive form and Mettaton found himself in a caricature of the body he'd always dreamed of, it was just another reminder of how badly he'd screwed up.

“Well, nothing personal, kiddo.” Mettaton said; their voices, at least, were still their own. “Time to take your soul for Dr. Alphys.”

And for all his hopes of taking it for himself, becoming unimaginably powerful, overcoming Alphys, he knew that his statement was true. Proper supervillains never let their evil minions undermine them.

“Ready.”

“ready.”

The two ghosts braced themselves, and Alphys sicced them on the human. While they weren't fused to the robot body, they were still connected to it, and so Alphys was able to force them to use their own magic. There was nothing elegant or stylish about the battle, for all Mettaton cared anymore. From Napstablook rained a storm of broken tears and shrieking soundwaves, and from Mettaton, frenetic lasers and reckless bombs. When their magic worked in tandem, their soul-shaped core produced wildly staring eyes and frightful lightning. They were a wreck, and now the whole Underground could see it.

“You don't want to fight anymore than I do, do you?” the battered human asked.

Mettaton shook their head slowly, giving the human a long, dubious look (Napstablook, seeing through their lower set of eyes, just kept looking down).

“Ha! Who cares about what anyone _wants_?” Mettaton said; he tried to make a theatrical dismissive gesture, but it became more of an awkward twitch as he failed to work around Alphys's control.

“I don't think they're even the ones fighting- they're inside their body but not controlling it!” their flower commented, aghast.

Then the human did something new. They struck back.

The robot's EX form packed a punch, but it wasn't invulnerable, and the human seemed to have a plan as they attacked, stabbing at the robot's arms with a plastic knife. Before long, they'd managed to bust the robot up fairly badly. Mettaton felt a wrenching deep within his soul, and his connection to the body was… weakened.

With another two strikes, their lower arms fell listlessly to the ground, detached from their body; and with them, Napstablook was detached as well. The languid ghost flew from their prison, and Mettaton expected his apathetic cousin to take their freedom and flee at once. Instead, however, remained where they were, watching Mettaton and the human have at each other.

“thanks…” Napstablook muttered… before re-joining Mettaton in their body.

“Blooky?! Wha-” Mettaton's eyes (the higher pair) widened. Somehow, Napstablook was messing up Alphys's control over them.

Mettaton struggled against Alphys's directions, straining to keep his body completely still.

“Well, kiddo?” he said.

The human gulped, then raised their knife in trembling hands. Their distress was only matched by Mettaton's elation as their attacks ripped the robot apart.

“FINALLY!” Mettaton shouted as he, too, fled Alphys's broken invention. “Freedom! Dr. Alphys foiled! At last!!”

The whole Underground was watching in all likelihood, but Mettaton didn't care. His fans were probably a bunch of jerks, and it wasn't like they could kill him or Napstablook however much they tried.

“Keep the soul, kiddo, it suits you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I GOT TO USE MY FAVORITE DEATH PUNS! And also reference the Haunted Mansion at the same time.  
> I figure that since Mettaton and Napstablook are unkillable ghosts, the threats of being killed for weakness didn't affect them as much as other monsters, their personalities aren't as changed as the other monsters'.  
> Dr. Alphys's (Alfels's?) grand introduction was pretty fun to write, as was Mettaton's Billy Mays-as-an-arms-dealer impression.  
> I hope Felsans was talking notes if he was watching those ads. He's still working to get back on top of his pun game.
> 
> Chapter 9, the totally Alfels-centric chapter, will be here on Monday.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys lures the hapless human down into her laboratories.

It took a minute for it to sink into Alphys's mind. Mettaton had been defeated. _She_ had been defeated. A child had gone against a supervillain, and _won_.

Dr. Alphys couldn't let that stand.

As with virtually all of the other monsters in the Underground, Alphys strove to be as vile a villain as possible. In the beginning, it had little more than a job for her, or a social norm to adhere to, but as time and experience proved that it _worked_ , it had come to encompass her entire ideology. Villainy never failed, and good never triumphed. She'd done too much- far too much- to be capable of doing anything else, so she clung to it as her best and only option. The worse she got, the tighter she held on.

But now, her nefarious plans had been foiled, her execrable inventions wrecked, her wicked way of life challenged, and everyone in the Underground had seen evil overcome. If Alphys didn't act soon to fight for the supremacy of supervillainy, she knew that an ill wind would begin to blow her way.

Studying a real human soul didn't matter anymore. Asgore could have it or Asgore could rot away imprisoned Underground forever for all she cared, so long as she could prove to everyone that heroism was a farce.

 

Alphys cackled to herself as she watched the human from her deepest workshop, the pale light of the security screens illuminating her and her project. As they'd passed through her now-empty surface Labs, (the only passage from Hotland to Waterfall; Alphys had ordered the Riverperson away), she'd flooded it with poisonous gas, an old supervillain trick, and forced them into the elevator. Their panicked, distant stare alone went a little ways for making up for her public humiliation. If they were this afraid of the ride down, they wouldn't last a minute amongst the fruits of her labors.

A twinge of some unpleasant emotion struck the scaly scientist, but she suppressed it. The human didn't have LOVE, she reminded herself, and for all their physical toughness, her minions and experiments had strength in magic, and in numbers. They'd cut down the human in no time, before their opponent would be able to realize what hit them.

She split her attention between work on her nearly-completed gadgetry and raptly watching the human's journey. If they reached her, then Alphys would crush them personally and then broadcast the fight across the kingdom, proving once and for all that _evil_ was what worked. If they didn't reach her, well… it would be a bit of a shame not to get to try out her new toy, but having her prior experiments vindicated at last would also be very satisfying.

Her clandestine, desolate laboratories were inhabited by enough people to populate a very small town (by monster standards, that is). Persuaded, duped, abducted, or snatched from the brink of death to serve as lab rats, most of them had been used to test a wide variety of processes for enhancing magical power, which had all been deplorable failures. Some had had their stats boosted, becoming tougher and capable of packing more punch with each bullet, but they could only shoot out one or two slow bullets before tiring out. Others were able to send out more bullets at once than they could before, but when their magic was altered, so too were their outward forms. Crippling and deformity were the norm rather than the exception down there.

Alphys had not been the one to begin those experiments, but she'd continued them, spending years trying to make them succeed, to fix what she'd broken, but eventually she'd given up. She couldn't allow any of the subjects to leave, as news of such a horrendous string of failures would have damaged her reputation as badly as a defeat in battle would have damaged Undyne's. They weren't too distraught over their predicament, though; if they left, their weaknesses meant they wouldn't have lasted long anyway.

Then, there were the Amalgamates. When Asgore had ordered Alphys to find a way to revive dead monsters, so that he could keep his subjects' numbers up when he challenged humanity, she had taken to the task with well-rehearsed diabolical glee. She hadn't expected for anything of the monsters' minds to remain intact as their souls deteriorated, and was looking forward to churning out an unstoppable, mindless army (what mad scientist wouldn't be?).

That the Determined monsters would retain their sanity, however briefly, was the first shock. The second shock, as you have probably guessed, my good reader, was the melting, the degenerating- the screaming. Alphys told Asgore that they had all melted away to nothing and Determination was a dead end before leaving the labs behind. She didn't go down there for more than a brief while anymore, and in spite of her minions' best efforts they were in a terrible state of disrepair. The agonized Amalgamates had wreaked havoc when they first formed, destroying many of the facilities and sending the other wretched test subjects scurrying into hiding.

It was into the midst of this sorry assortment of broken souls that the human was now headed. Alphys waited to see who would find them first with no small amount of anticipation.

The pathetically timid human shambled out of the elevator as if they were a lost soul themself. They walked at a snail's pace, twitchy as a startled rabbit that could hear the fox but couldn't see where it was. The creaks and groans from the dilapidated walls spooked them, old stains and churned-up floors frightened them into stillness, and when they caught sight of apparitions of Amalgamates on the prowl they to simply ran, not caring where. Alphys chuckled at the spectacle.

“F-finally!” she said, as she watched a twisted monster who had once been a Madjick approach in lurching flight.

The human gaped in horror, staring eyes wild with fear as they stumbled back, and the Madjick, too, recoiled at the sight. For a moment they watched each other, before the Madjick, convulsing in fright, turned and fled.

Alphys frowned. Was that really the best her experiments could muster?

Many of the human's other encounters went the same way, with one or both parties fleeing as if Death itself were on their heels. The Amalgamate battles, however, lasted a little longer.

When they approached the ruined sinks, three amorphous Memoryheads drizzled out of busted pipes and tried to envelop the human; the familiar flower on their shoulder bought them time to flee with a few bullets of its own. The vicious Reaper Bird swarmed into existence with an echoing shriek, bullets devouring each other; the human only narrowly escaped being consumed themself by running and slamming a door in the Amalgamate's face, leaving Reaper Bird to wail and crash against the other side. Lemon Bread first tried to eat them whole, but recoiled at the last moment, mumbling a broken tune to itself.

Mrs. Drake nearly gave them frostbite with an attempt at a hug; the human first giggled nervously, then convulsed with laughter as they sobbed in fear. Something about their laugh made the cold Amalgamate flee. The dogs, meanwhile, hounded them throughout the Labs, bowling over lab equipment and lab rats alike, before the human finally hurled their precious stick away. Endogeny bounded away to fetch it immediately. Alphys made note of that; she'd have to try that the next time they went on a rampage.

In the end, it became apparent that the human's determination to escape outweighed their fear, and they arrived in Alphys's workshop at last.

The scientist began snickering evilly as the doors shut and locked behind them. She held a small remote in her hands, with a single button on it.

“So, human, we meet again!” she proclaimed, standing in the midst of her latest project. “I have been looking forward to this for a long time.”

Alphys pressed the button, and the network of mechanical parts around her began to move as if of their own accord. Gears spun, engines roared to life, machines latched onto each other and hauled themselves upright, rearranging around the scientist into a more coherent, grander form. In a matter of moments, everything was ready for Alphys's final showdown.

A large, vaguely humanoid form hunched in the workshop, and the human took a few fearful steps back. Then, the mecha reared itself upright, and its magical weapons activated.

“Behold, my greatest creation!” Alphys shouted from inside the control station. “For it shall be the last thing that you ever see!”

Gears whirred and pistons shrieked as the lumbering machine lurched toward the human, who scurried out of the way.

“Frisk- get close to it!” Alphys thought she heard the flower say. She frowned. Did it want to die? Well, that would make her life less complicated.

“I've got an idea!”it continued.

The human stopped running and turned, looking up at the machine, tears swimming in their eyes. They balled up their hands into fists and their sides, then began walking toward the mecha with shaky steps.

Eventually, they were practically right next to the mecha's legs, shaking like a leaf. Then, to their own and Alphys's surprise, the flower uncoiled itself from their shoulder, stuck out a root toward the mecha, wrapped around it, and pulled itself into the machine.

“FLOWEY!” the human screamed, reaching out for their friend as it vanished.

A shout rang out from inside the mecha; Alphys shuddered involuntarily as she tried not to think about what happened to the flower. She reached for levers and buttons around the control station, trying to maneuver her guns so she could fire at the human without blasting herself.

The human, stunned, hadn't left their spot.

“Why are you doing this?” they asked over the noise of the robot.

“Your actions have really shaken up the status quo around here, kid.” Alphys monologued. “I've sat by and watched long enough; Mettaton was the last straw. I can't let monsters see villains thwarted by a pack of pathetic pacifists!”

Although Alphys couldn't hear it, Frisk tried to say, “You th-think if you k-k-kill me… villains 'w-win'?”.

“Say good-bye, human!” Alphys said, tacking on a cackle for good measure. The mecha took a step back, and she aimed both guns at the human. The motion seemed a little more sluggish than it should have.

“G…” The human struggled to speak with their strangled voice. “Goodbye!” they said resolutely.

Alphys paused, hands on the triggers. The human was staring up at her, unmoving. What… what were they doing? Why weren't they running for cover? Why were they letting her kill them?! Would she be playing into their hands if she went through with it?

A bitter chill raced down her spine. She couldn't do what they wanted- that would be like letting them win! But she couldn't just let them leave!

A mechanical groan emanated from within the mecha, and a siren went off in the control station.

“WHAT?!” Alphys shrieked, looking at a readout that told her the mecha's framework had just become seriously compromised. She looked out of the viewscreen; through gaps in the mecha's armor, she saw long, green tendrils snaking around inside of the machine, snapping struts, ripping systems to pieces, and blasting the rest with bullets.

The mecha was no longer able to stay upright, and buckled. The human hurried out of its path, and Alphys thought she saw something small and yellow slither out from the mecha as it toppled. Alphys fell heavily atop her control console. She struggled feebly to get away from the wreckage, and noticed the human regarding her across the room.

Her struggles ceased, and the weight of her defeat hit her more heavily than the ruined mecha possibly could.

“Don't…” she gasped. “d-don't try to redeem me. I've done so much… Determination… the experiments… M-Mettaton…” She choked down a sob. “Just leave me here.”

The human took a hesitant step forward.

“Why?” Alphys wept. “I'm not worth it. You've seen what's out there! I c-can _never_ atone for it all!”

There. She'd finally admitted it. The flawlessness of villainy could no longer shield her from her guilt; she'd known from the first how depraved her deeds were, but her cowardice had pushed her off the slippery slope.

“Not if you don't try.” the human said, holding out a trembling hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figuring out Underfell Alphys was even trickier than Underfell Undyne, but I like the mad scientist I've come up with.  
> Also, as it will have no bearing on the story, I think that there's no harm whatsoever in just telling you all here that Alphys pushed Gaster in this version of Underfell. A.) he was a cruel boss, B.) she wanted his job, and C.) he liked the terrible sequel to her favorite anime.
> 
> Next chapter will be up Friday.
> 
> As a side-note, I've gone back to A Novel Experience and polished it up a bit, though I don't think I've made any real major changes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of Frisk's journey is in sight, but before they can reach the light at the end of the tunnel, they've got to get past the train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, Frisk has a point of view after all!

All was dark and deathly still in the grim red hallway leading to the bastion of the King of All Monsters. Frisk proceeded cautiously, their quiet footfalls echoing awfully in the empty space. They were headed for what would hopefully be their final battle before they could get their freedom at last, and they were headed there alone.

Flowey had started reminiscing, as they sneaked through The Capital. How he'd first awakened in the King's garden, how he'd tried to find someone, anyone, who could help him or figure out how he'd come to be, how eventually the world's cruelty had forced him to hide alone and out of sight. He'd thanked Frisk for being his friend.

Then he'd left, without a word of explanation.

Frisk kept going regardless; he'd had a plan back in Alphys's lab and hopefully he had one now. They had to believe that, lest their resolve wavered.

Even with that driving them on, the eerie quiet of the hallway was getting to them. They couldn't even turn to their weird new friends for comfort- their phone signal couldn't reach back to Snowdin. It got to the point that they were more relieved than frightened when they suddenly noticed another person standing down the corridor, unrecognizable in the gloom. Frisk took a deep breath and pressed onwards.

“heya.” the stranger said, and with a fresh flood of relief Frisk quickened their pace. It was only Sans.

They faltered as they got close enough to see him properly; his sockets were dark, and his permanent grin was taut with anxiety.

“you're bound and determined, aren'tcha?” he asked cooly.

Frisk nodded.

“i've got some friendly advice for ya…” Sans went on. “give up. go back. and keep away from asgore.”

“Sans…?” Frisk called out tentatively. Something didn't feel right.

“'cause if you do meet him… you will NOT like what he does next.” the skeleton said. “I ' d   t u r n   b a c k   i f   I   w e r e   y o u ,   k i d .”

Frisk's stomach was ablaze with worry, but they swallowed their fear and stayed where they were. They thought of their promise to Flowey, of how what they were trying to accomplish would help all of their friends, of how desperately they wanted to go back to the surface now that they people to share it with again. Somewhere down the line, as monsters tried to end their life, they'd found the way to start a new one. These ideas filled them with determination; they couldn't renege on them after coming so far. Besides, Sans was a friend now.

He looked down, and sighed. A pained look crossed his face. “welp. i can see that's not happening. sorry, kid. i'm doing you a favor.”

“Sans?!” Frisk cried, as their red soul manifested.

Before they had a chance to prepare themself, they felt the relentless pull of gravity tug on their soul, causing them to bend down under the weight of it. A single bone bullet shot up from the ground beneath their feet, and though they yanked themself upright it still hit. They felt a lingering pain in their soul, and saw that its deep blue was tinged purple for a brief second.

“i remember hearing rumors about this strange anomaly, that could make timelines jump all over the place.” Sans said in a strangely calm voice. His left socket was flooded with blood-red light. “heh… that's you, isn't it?”

Frisk's eyes widened in shock. Their saving? Was that what this was all about? How did Sans know? They were rattled from that train of thought by six paired bone bullets, moving slow, but so close together Frisk could hardly squeeze their soul through. Whenever one hit, they felt only a slight sting of nagging pain, hardly anything compared to Toriel or Papyrus's attacks, but their soul wasn't very tough to begin with. A little went a long way.

“ _A_ _agh_ _!_ ” they cried in pain. “Sans, you're hurting me!”

“no m-matter w-what i- what h-happens to you here…” Sans said, eyes still dark save for the burning red glow flickering with orange light. “it's n-not going to slow you down much, is it?”

He had a point. Frisk'd died so many times that its fear factor was beginning to wear thin. The lead-up to dying was generally more painful than the actual moment. It was the shock of Sans's betrayal that hurt them, more than an impending death. He'd been one of their first friends, he'd helped them, he'd risked himself to protect them- what had brought this on?

“But Sans,” they said, switching tactics. “if I get past Asgore- the barrier-”

A menacing, bestial skull appeared above Sans, and Frisk's voice caught. Its jaw split apart, firing a beam of magic at their soul with a demonic roar. To their surprise, it didn't hurt any more than the other bullets, but the bright light left them disoriented.

Sans shuddered, and grimaced. “the surface…” he spat, as if it were something sickening. “you've seen how we are. the war will restart the second we get there.”

The next wave of bullets had white mixed with blue; slow and sparse, but spaced closely together, hitting Frisk's soul more often than not. With a flash of fear Frisk realized they couldn't take much more. Dying was nothing new, but they were getting tired by it.

A widely-spaced pair of tall bullets came at them, followed by a handful of short ones. Frisk leapt with all their strength, and barely cleared them all.

“if we're just gonna get ourselves killed, hardly seems worth it… heh…” Sans said, with a grin that came out more like a wince. He averted his stare to the floor as he prepared his next attack.

“i really am a coward, huh?”

Frisk saw a blinding light, felt a burning pain in their soul, and then, nothing more.

 

But they were determined.

They managed to last to the same point in the fight. Frisk got blasted by Sans's strange weapon again afterwards.

The pain still lingered as they pleaded, “Sans, stop!”

“you're still wondering why i'm doing this, huh?” the skeleton said.

He closed his eyes, and didn't attack. Frisk, trembling where they stood, waited with bated breath. What was driving him? There had to be a way to talk him down. There had to. There _had_ to!

“look… asgore practically invented 'kill or be killed'.” Sans explained. Beads of sweat formed on his skull. “i c-can't let a friend w-walk to a death th-that awful.”

He took a shuddering breath, and had to swallow before he went on. “if you j-just went back, stayed down here, you'd probably have a great time. let's… quit fighting. go back b-before h-he notices.”

But they couldn't go back, now now. If they quit, Frisk didn't know if they could ever start again.

“Please!” Frisk begged desperately. “Mercy!”

Sans's eyes snapped open. A look of pain crossed his face. “m-mercy? y-you w-want me to sh-show mercy?” he asked weakly. “okay…”

He held out his hand. Timidly, Frisk went to him and took it. For a moment, nothing happened. They were about to breathe a sigh of relief when they felt their soul splintering yet again.

“trust me.” they heard Sans say as they passed. “this IS merciful.”

 

Again.

Dying at a friend's hand made Frisk feel more weary than dying to an enemy ever had. But if they could just pass Sans, Frisk felt certain they could last for a thousand battles against Asgore.

This time, when Sans held out a hand in friendship, Frisk recoiled. Sans noticed it, and his expression filled with shame. If he hadn't known that he'd killed them before, he certainly knew now.

“worth a shot.” he said feebly. The skeleton sent a pair of long bones at them from either side, and Frisk spun about in a circle to avoid them. One of them grazed their soul, and they gritted their teeth against the pain. “c'mon, kid, learn when to QUIT!”

He sucked in a quick breath, and Frisk realized he was getting tired- just as much as, if not moreso, than they were. If they couldn't talk him down, could they outlast him? They felt exhausted at the thought, but they'd do what they had to. For everyone's sake. They'd promised Flowey, they were going to help their friends, they were going to see the surface again-

-but Flowey had left them, and now one of their friends was out for their blood. Frisk's breathing became shallow; if they died now, would they be determined enough to come back?

Their soul was turned blue. Sans took a hand out of his pocket, held it up, and then quickly brought it back down to his side. Frisk slammed against the hard floor, holding their hands in front of them to protect their face. Then Sans dragged them back up, before forcing them to the ground again and again. When they felt his grip on their soul weaken, they didn't bother getting up.

Sans took a deep breath.

“well. here goes nothing.”

What?! Had Sans been holding back all along? Tears filled Frisk's eyes; what could be so horrible that everything before would pale in comparison? They laboriously hauled themself up, ready to leap or weave or whatever it took to keep out of the way.

But Sans didn't move, just stood there staring, right socket bleeding light, breathing heavily. Was he hoping to catch them off guard? Frisk's instincts screamed at them to run, but they couldn't allow themself to go back, and if they got close to Sans he'd finish them off.

Why wasn't he doing anything?, Frisk wondered. If he was trying to kill them with suspense, well, it would probably work. The attacks their imagination was brewing up were probably worse than anything he'd actually throw at them- if he was their friend, then hopefully he just wanted to kill them, not torment them.

'Here goes nothing', indeed! Frisk was starting to wish Sans would just unleash whatever it was he had up his sleeve and get it over with. This terrified waiting was agonizing enough. Why didn't-

Wait. Nothing. Was it really so simple? Frisk's spirits lifted. It made sense. Sans didn't have the brute force, nor magical output, of the other monsters, so he had to get by with foul play- and a front. He was trying to make them think he was a lot more dangerous than he really was. The worst was probably over.

Frisk's resolve strengthened. It was just a matter of who could stay standing the longest, now, and if it meant staying alive then Frisk could definitely manage it.

Sans's eyelids began to droop a bit, but he snapped his head back up. He sucked in a ragged breath, and clenched his fists. It was clear that he was determined to keep them from reaching Asgore- but he wasn't Determined.

The skeleton fought against his exhaustion with every passing second, but in time, it proved too much. He'd exerted all of his strength. Clearly against his will, he stumbled backwards and tripped, falling into a sitting position. His head began to fall as if pulled by his own blue magic, and before long, he was sound asleep in front of Frisk.

They tip-toed by, going as quietly as possible so as not to wake him.

The keep of the fortified stronghold looked just as bleak and utilitarian as the rest of the castle had been. It was all rugged black brickwork, menacing spikes, and a few hanging chains Frisk couldn't quite determine the purpose of. Perhaps they were just there for aesthetic's sake.

Inside, the throne room was cavernous and mouldering. A towering ebony throne loomed at its center. The rough floor was made of something like concrete, haphazardly poured and not smoothed out when left to dry, like it had been hastily done to cover something up. Scorch marks, nearly indistinguishable against the dark brickwork, criss-crossed the walls where vines and ivy had tried to grow. Still, in spite of its lifeless and desolate feel, the thought that the end of their journey was near filled Frisk with determination.

Frisk passed through the throne room and into a corridor that they could see faintly in, although there were no torches or other obvious sources of light. They continued on, and they saw that light was trickling into the corridor- the barrier, at last! It must have been nearly night time on the surface.

But some of the light was blocked by a towering, ram-like monster with curling horns who was looking out at the dying sunlight. He wore dark plate armor under a crimson cloak, and clutched a wicked trident in one hand.

Asgore Dreemurr turned and faced them.

“Give up now, and I will make this quick.” he said in a deep voice.

That didn't sound too bad.

Faster than Frisk would have thought possible, Asgore reached out with his trident and flicked their weapon- an empty gun- away from them. They couldn't fight back now, even to defend themselves.

With that, the battle began. Frisk was beset by a magical inferno from the start; waves of flames, rings of fireballs, a sea of searing stars. When he was not attacking Frisk with his blazing magic, the King of All Monsters tried to strike them with his cruelly-barbed trident.

And all the while, he spoke.

“Abandon your hope, human.” he said first. “In this accursed place, hope died with my son, years ago.”

Asgore's breathing became ragged for a moment. “He died, because he refused to kill, even as he was _butchered_ by humans. When I found him, he told me… he regretted his weakness. I did what any king would do. I declared war.”

He paused his speech, but did not let up his attacks. “My people lost the last of their hope. I could not return it, so I gave them something better: Strength. When I addressed my people I told them that… compassion, mercy, love, would only bring them grief. I _made_ them know that _weakness_ had no place in war, that they had to be willing to do whatever it took to survive!!”

Frisk felt as if their blood had gone cold; here, indeed, was the monster who was responsible for twisting and hurting their friends, who truly had invented 'kill or be killed'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MEGALOVANIA intensifies)
> 
> Although this Sans is far weaker than regular Sans, I figure he'd still be able to cause a lot of problems for someone who never gained any LOVE and therefore doesn't have much HP.  
> The lingering pain caused by Sans's attack is meant to represent karmic retribution, because while Frisk hasn't committed any terrible deeds, they're still only human- so it does one extra point of damage.  
> Speaking of Frisk, am I the only one who thinks the idea of them getting really blasé about death after dying so many times makes for some great black humor?
> 
> Also, Underfell!Asgore (or Felgore) snatching Frisk's weapon away was meant to represent him breaking their Fight button, the way regular Asgore broke the Mercy button. Sure, Frisk's only ever tried to spare enemies anyway, but Asgore's gotten used to everyone solving their problems purely by violence, and acted accordingly.
> 
> This interpretation of Underfell!Asgore was partially inspired by anunusualvisitor's headcanons here: http://anunusualvisitor.tumblr.com/post/135754578251/underfell-headcanons-toriel-and-asgore
> 
> Next chapter will be up next Tuesday.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes to a head, and this part of the tale comes to a close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is the end of my second fanfiction! I also can't believe it grew to be as long as it did (remember when I said this would contain a few short chapters? HA!). Huge thanks to everyone who's stuck with the story that far; I hope you like how this one wraps up, and that you'll keep sticking around for the sequel.

In the midst of battle, Frisk almost didn't notice the lone string of fireballs that flew from behind them to strike Asgore. He looked up, pasting a mask of rage on his face at whoever dared to assault the King of All Monsters, but then the masquerade fell away, and his eyes went wide with shock.

“DREEMURR! GET BACK, YOU BRUTE!” a familiar voice roared.

Someone strode up and positioned themself between Frisk and Asgore, putting a paw on Frisk's shoulder.

“Toriel?!” Asgore exclaimed.

“Keep away from this child, Dreemurr, or I will burn you to ash and dust.” Toriel said, eyes blazing with fury. But then she turned to Frisk, and smiled. “Greetings, young one. It is good to see that you are alive. I am truly sorry that I did not come after you sooner.”

Toriel was extremely defensive by nature; when Frisk and Flowey had first seen her, they'd run afoul of her territorial side, as she'd tried to run them off from her home and keep them from getting any farther into the Ruins. With time- and with a lot of battles- she'd relented, and allowed them to stay at her home for a while before showing them the way out. Even then, it had seemed to Frisk she only wanted to keep them away because she was afraid that otherwise, she'd start to care about them.

Having been proven right, they were very relieved that they were now seeing her protective side, although they would have been even more relieved if Flowey was with her.

Asgore did not move to attack again, but neither did he lower his weapon. Then, suddenly, a blue spear flew through the air and buried itself in the ground between the two boss monsters. Frisk and Toriel looked back to see who was there. Maybe this time Flowey would be coming…?

“BACK OFF!” Undyne shouted, alone. She rushed to Frisk's side, clutching a large spear in her hands.

The King of All Monsters drew himself up to his full height, and glared at his rebellious subordinate. A flicker of fear crossed Undyne's face, but she didn't waver.

Before anyone else could say anything, the light from the doorway behind them was blocked off by a towering form, and suddenly a chunk of the wall was pulled away by a mechanical hand. A vast machine became visible through the large hole in the wall.

“YOU SCALY, INSUFFERABLE SCOUNDREL! GET YOUR LUDICROUS MACHINATIONS OUT OF MY WAY, BEFORE I CRUSH THEM MYSELF!” Papyrus shouted from somewhere behind it.

The humanoid machine ducked through the renovated doorway, followed by a tall skeleton in high dudgeon. Papyrus held a long, sharpened bone in one hand, and had his still-sleeping brother tucked under his other arm. Before he joined the other monsters, he set his brother down against a wall. Another mechanical being followed, one with an extra set of eyes and arms.

“Alphys _does_ know how to make an entrance.” Mettaton said with grudging admiration as he looked on Alphys's handiwork.

“whatever…” Napstablook muttered.

Then, a bit of dirt beside Frisk was pushed out of the way as a small flower sprouted from the ground. He beamed up at them, and their eyes went wide with relief.

“See, Frisk?” Flowey said earnestly. “I didn't abandon you! I brought help!”

Asgore stared at the assembly in disbelief, and his trident fell from his hands. He sighed, and lowered his head.

“As you can see, the Underground will not suffer your brutal _policies_ any longer, Dreemurr.” Toriel said coldly, fire still burning at her fingertips.

The other monsters exchanged knowing looks; Undyne elbowed Papyrus, who was smiling grimly. They knew what would be coming next.

“Abdicate now, and this does not have to end violently.” Toriel continued, and her magic flickered out.

The others gave her blank looks.

“You're _not_ gonna execute him?” Undyne said with disbelief. Frisk, on the other hand, smiled.

Toriel exhaled sharply. “No. I am not. Too much dust has already been scattered on his account. Living with the burden of what he's done should be punishment enough. We have a more important issue to deal with.”

 

When Sans woke, it was to the familiar sound of arguing.The skeleton opened his eyes just enough to let him see, but otherwise remained still. Frisk, who strangely only looked a little worse for wear, wasn't a part of the quarrel, but was watching from the side, wide-eyed.He found he was actually grateful for a fight, for once; they'd be too caught up shouting at each other to pay any attention for him. After what he'd just done, all he wanted was to disappear entirely.

He'd only wanted to… well, he couldn't really say he'd been trying to keep Frisk safe, he supposed, not when he'd killed them who knew how many times. Sans was sickened by the thought; he'd thought that knowing they would come back would make it easier to handle, but if it did, it wasn't enough for him to notice. But at the time, with all of the fears and anxieties about Asgore that had been pressed into him throughout the years crowding into his thoughts at once, it had seemed like the only definitive way to stop them from getting dismembered.

Of course, that single-mindedness was how everyone else had thought before Frisk had gotten through to them, Sans thought bitterly as he watched the scene before him. He should've known better. At least the others tried to kill Frisk _before_ befriending them. And now…

Asgore- the thing of his darkest nightmares- was moping in a corner, and Frisk was still in one piece. That knocked down what little was left of his already-flimsy excuses for his actions. His brother, Undyne, Mettaton, Alphys, and another boss monster were standing around glaring daggers, magic barely contained. There was no sign of the flower.

“We don't know you!” Undyne was reasoning with the boss monster, who was literally burning with indignation. “You just traipsed in here out of nowhere and decided you were in charge. Why do you think we should we trust you with the souls?”

“I trust her with them more than I'd trust _you_.” Mettaton said disdainfully, crossing both pairs of arms. “From what I've heard, you're just as likely to run off with them to save your own skin as use them to free us.”

Alphys opened her mouth to object at the robot, but Papyrus cut her off. “ _I_ DEFINITELY WOULDN'T TRUST A MAD SCIENTIST WITH THEM.” he growled.

“The feeling's mutual.” the scientist said, bristling. “I wouldn't let a power-hungry bully like yourself handle a fraction of that power!”

The other boss monster happened to look over at him. “Oh! He's awake!” she said. Her voice was very familiar, Sans realized with growing dread. Did she know what he'd just tried? Would she count it as breaking his promise? He had given them a head start, back in Snowdin, and a chance to turn back, just now- Sans sighed, and shut that train of thought down. If she did hold it against him, he figured he deserved it.

Sans got to his feet. “whad'd i miss??” he asked blearily.

“WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO SHOULD BREAK THE BARRIER.” Papyrus explained.

Sans frowned. “with only six souls?”

“…MINOR DETAIL. WE HAVEN'T WORKED EVERYTHING OUT YET.” his brother said sheepishly. Then, he frowned. “WHERE'D FLOWERY GO?”

“H-here.”

The argument petered out as the assembled monsters turned toward the enlarged doorway. Flowey had sprouted up from the ground amidst the rubble, and he looked somewhat under the weather. He tried to give everyone a smile, but it faltered as his whole form suddenly flickered and distorted.

“Flowey! Are you all right?” the human asked.

“Y-yeah.” the small flower said. “This should work.”

“WHAT SHOULD WORK?” Papyrus asked, frowning. “WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING _NOW_?!”

The last thing Sans recalled was that a bright glow began to emanate from the flower, before a blinding light filled the room and overwhelmed everything.

 

They were alone.

“Hello! Papyrus?” Frisk called out. They looked around. Aside from their friends' footprints, there was no sign of them; everyone had vanished without a trace. “Toriel? Undyne?”

Had it worked?, Frisk fretted. It had seemed like such a wonderful idea at the time. So why wasn't Flowey there? Hopefully nothing had gone wrong. They began to feel somewhat ill; what if they'd messed everything up, and their idea had hurt everyone? They'd only wanted to help…

“Howdy!”

Frisk whirled around, and they were rewarded with the sight of their flowery friend.

“Is everyone…?” they began hesitantly.

“They're all fine. A bit, uh, startled, but fine.” Flowey said, shaking some dirt off of his petals. He smiled even more widely. “Everything worked perfectly. No one was guarding the other human souls, and now everyone else's soul is here, too. I actually think it's enough!”

He sighed happily. “It feels… nice. Almost like I have a soul of my own.”

Frisk's eyes widened. What did he mean? How could Flowey not have a soul? He was a monster, wasn't he?

“But… it'll feel nicer to be free, I think.” Flowey went on. “All this was, uh, kinda my fault anyway. I'm glad I can fix things now. I don't regret being weak anymore.”

He disappeared back into the earth before Frisk could get a question in edgewise about his cryptic words. The burning knot of anxiety in their stomach hadn't loosened a bit, and they had a feeling it wouldn't until the barrier was finally gone, Flowey had reversed whatever it was he'd done to absorb the entire monster population of the Underground, and they could see that their friends were safe and sound again.

Suddenly a brilliant light flourished in the tunnel; six gleaming, vibrant souls soared in circles about its source, as another thousand silver hearts radiated away from them. Then, the great light seemed to withdraw, condensing at the center of the souls, and Frisk, astonished, thought they saw it form into a small, child-like shape before it unleashed its power upon the mighty Barrier.

 

This time, when Sans came to, he was lying on his side in a place he didn't recognize. It was very rocky, he could observe that much, and rather bright. There didn't seem to be any walls. Nor was there a ceiling. He was too exhausted to deal with any more shocks that day, he thought groggily. What sort of weird place was this?

Wait. No ceiling? That deep orange, high above him- was that the sky? The _surface_ …? Had they actually reached the surface?!

Sans pushed himself into a sitting position, and had to squint against the light as he looked toward the horizon at a sight he knew he had never seen before in any past timeline. A vast, golden sphere wreathed in clouds was slowly descending in the sky, and though it was painfully bright to look upon he couldn't tear his eyes away.

Unsteadily, Sans got up and stood by Papyrus, who helped him to his feet before going back to staring out at the sunset with all the rest. Frisk was beside Toriel, Flowey back in his usual place on their shoulder. Undyne and Alphys were awfully close together, Mettaton not too far off, while the dethroned King was standing apart.

“I don't believe it.” Asgore said, stunned. “After all these years, I would not have thought that there were enough monsters left in the Underground to match even a fraction of a human soul's power.”

Was that what had happened?, Sans wondered, as Toriel glared at her ex. He'd have to ask about it later. There were more important things to think about at the moment.

“We're not declaring war on humanity, right?!” Undyne suddenly asked anxiously.

Everyone turned to look at Toriel for an answer, even Asgore.

“Hmph. No, we are certainly not.” Toriel replied.

“Phew! What a relief!” the fish monster said.

They lapsed back into silence, and kept on watching the sun in amazement until it vanished below the horizon.

“NOW WHAT DO WE DO?” Papyrus asked.

“Well…” Toriel said, with a deep breath. “I suppose we'd better start by getting you,” She looked down at Frisk. “back to your family, young one.”

“Do we have to?” Undyne asked. “Are you sure we can't keep borrowing 'em for a bit?”

Toriel leveled an unpleased glare at the fish monster. “What, not funny?” Undyne said.

Frisk cleared their throat. They glanced down at the ground and fidgeted where they stood, hands held up close to them.

“Actually…” they said in a small voice. “I lost my family…the f-fire…”

There were a few Aw's and Oh…'s and other exclamations of sympathy, although perhaps they did not sound quite as sad as you might have expected at such a revelation, my good reader. They were, after all, quite accustomed to death.

“S-so…” Frisk went on, and their friends quieted once more. “…you guys are all I've got.”

Now shock reigned alongside silence.

“ _US_??” Papyrus said, blinking in surprise.

“really?”

“A bunch of loser bad guys are seriously the best people you know?” Undyne asked incredulously. She looked around at the assembled monsters. “Haven't we all tried to kill you? Enthusiastically? I thought that was, uh, _not_ normal for the surface.”

Frisk smiled awkwardly and shrugged. There was something seriously wrong with the kid, Sans decided, if they were that nonchalant about repeated attempts on their life. But then again, he supposed that if they were a bit messed up, they'd fit in fine.

Eventually, the monsters began to make their way down the mountain; Sans trailed behind the rest. Mostly he did this because he did not want to get too close to Frisk. His guilt still weighed on him; he didn't think he could bear it if they so much as looked at him, not yet, although he knew he'd have to do something to make amends.

But also, he had not expected this ending, nor did he have any knowledge of it that would help him deal with it. Now that the barrier was broken, there were just too many “what ifs” involved. As a result the whole thing was making him pretty anxious, the way the crossover had, which was a shame, because when his anxiety didn't make him outright fearful it made him irritable, and he didn't want to be _that guy_ who ruined the freaking breaking of the Barrier for everyone.

Well. In spite of their collaborative best efforts, no one had died yet. At least there was that.

Then, suddenly, his phone started vibrating at him. Confused, Sans got it out of his pocket. Apparently, he was calling himself.

“what?” he asked, suspicious.

“i'll take that as a 'hello'.” his counterpart said languidly. “where are you?”

“why d'you wanna know?”

“we just got to the surface.” the other him said in a slightly more serious tone. “so… i was curious…”

Sans closed his eyes. “yeah, we're here. finally.” he said, still scarcely daring to believe it. Another, far less stressful realization began to sink in. “we're free.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flowey's first bit of dialogue here was derived from what he says in a No Mercy run in Asgore's throne room.
> 
> After starting right where A Novel Experience left off, and thereby skipping the Ruins sequence entirely, I knew that Torifel had to have a huge presence when she finally showed up to make up for not bringing her into the story earlier. I hope this chapter delivers.  
> Torifel was partly inspired by anunusualvisitor's headcanons (http://anunusualvisitor.tumblr.com/post/135754578251/underfell-headcanons-toriel-and-asgore), because I wanted to keep away from the usual creepy, Mother Gothel interpretation. I couldn't see Toriel breaking that much (and in this version of Underfell, everyone used to be just like their Undertale counterparts), but I could see her distancing herself and trying to keep the humans away from her. But, in time, Frisk's friendliness made her feel guilty for sending them on their way, and she decided to finally do something different and go after them.
> 
> Also, shoutout to Heroshand, whose comment on the last chapter made me realize that in the original draft of this chapter, Sans was feeling 100% not guilty enough.
> 
> And now that everyone's more or less redeemed, or at least redeemed enough, we can go back to haphazardly mixing universes in the sequel, A Peculiar Crossroads. Your regularly scheduled crossover shenanigans will resume in no sooner than a week's time, and hopefully no later than two weeks from now.
> 
> Again, thank you all! If you've got any questions about these interpretations of the Underfell crew that weren't covered in other author's notes (they get so long, I often don't have room to squeeze in everything), just ask in the comments.


End file.
